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Miracle Monday – Meet Emmy!

Emmy Rains, a 16 year old from Odenville, Alabama, had always been a healthy child, so when she complained of sharp stomach pain, her parents, Karen and Tyler, knew something was off. The symptoms worsened despite a visit to the local pediatrician and normal test results. Within a month, Emmy had lost 20 pounds and all of her energy was gone.

Emmy was eventually sent to Children’s of Alabama where doctors quickly diagnosed her with Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract. Bloodwork and labs were performed, as well as a colonoscopy that revealed her intestines were extremely inflamed. After the scope, Emmy’s pain intensified. An X-ray showed her colon had perforated. Doctors rushed Emmy in for emergency surgery, which required putting in a colostomy bag.

Emmy’s mother Karen said that after her surgery, Emmy’s “pain was gone and she was all smiles. She was just so happy that the pain was gone.”

Although hopeful, Emmy did experience some setbacks where she developed three abscesses that had to be drained, pancreatitis and an acute kidney injury that affected her blood pressure. But after almost four weeks, she was discharged home.

“Her case of Crohn’s disease is so severe that we have to go to Children’s every four weeks for her infusion,” Karen said. The infusions work so well, in fact, that most of the inflammation in Emmy’s intestines is gone. Most of her Crohn’s disease symptoms have gone away, though she still has to be very careful about what she eats. 


“She still fights fatigue sometimes because of Crohn’s, but overall she is doing excellent,” Karen said. “It’s such a night and day difference from where she was. She’s still living with the reality of having a disease that doesn’t go away, but she has the tools now to help her manage it.”

Emmy was also able to get her colostomy reversed and now she is back in school full-time, focusing on making good grades and being involved in various leadership opportunities. “She’s doing great,” Karen said. “The doctors and nurses really made all the difference in helping get her to where she is. They took such good care of her.”