By Hattie Gladwell for Metro
Six-year-old Brody Whiteside has melted the hearts of thousands after a picture of him wanting to be ‘just like his daddy’ was posted to the Crohn’s and Colitis UK Facebook page.
However, the picture didn’t show Brody wearing his dad’s clothes or putting on his work boots.
No, little Brody was all smiles as he tried on one of his dad’s ostomy bags – a bag that is worn to collect waste from a surgical opening in the abdomen called a stoma.
Brody’s dad, Brian Whiteside, was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a form of Inflammatory bowel disease, back in December 2009.
Brody’s mother, Tasha Whiteside, told Metro.co.uk: ‘Brian spent a week in hospital with bleeding and severe stomach pain.
‘I was pregnant with Brody at the time. He was sent home with steroids and Mezavant and he started to feel better.
‘He had the odd flare but with his regular medication and steroids he would eventually get back to ‘normal’, well, what he would call as normal as you could be with UC.’
But at the end of 2013, Brian took a turn for the worse.
‘Brian had a flare up but this time the medication didn’t work,’ Tasha said.
‘The UC was half way around his large colon and he was in constant pain and going to the toilet up to 50 times throughout the day and night.
‘After stays in hospital with IV steroids and other medication nothing seemed to be working.’
On 22 December 2015, Brian attended an appointment with a surgeon to speak about his options. Brian was told that he was very unwell and was advised to have surgery.
On arrival home that day, Brian told Tasha that he couldn’t go on being in constant pain, and decided to opt for the surgery.
How do you explain what an ostomy is to someone?
Precious, juse beautiful.