By Alexa Federico, as told to Skylar Harrison

Before becoming an advocate for people with Crohn’s disease and IBDMy mom was mine.

“Her nails are blue. she is lost weight. “She’s very cold,” she told the doctors over and over again about her 12-year-old daughter’s alarming symptoms, but they never seemed to take us seriously.

“She’s just a skinny girl,” one doctor told us. But my mother, a nurse, knew we needed answers. Something was wrong.

It started with fatigue and then joint pain on my knees and sores on me mouth. When my gastrointestinal problems appeared… stomachache, diarrhea, weight loss and low food tolerance: we were used to countless doctor visits and countless unanswered questions. We were used to our voices not being heard.

I spent New Year’s Day that year in the hospital. My 10-day period was filled with endless tests: MRIs, CT scans, a colonoscopy, a endoscopy. And then, after days of repeatedly telling my life story, more insistent than ever, we finally got our answer. Most of the tissue in my digestive tract was diseased and I was diagnosed with moderate to severe Crohn’s disease.

That first hospitalization was not only a huge relief, but it was also where a powerful seed was planted. I didn’t know it at the time, but finding my voice during that traumatic stay would not only be crucial to healing myself, but it would also be the way I would reach out to many other people living with IBD.

I started my first Instagram account when I was a freshman in college. The Allergy Food Diaries was an anonymous page where I started documenting the foods I ate. With the help of a functional medicine doctor, I knew that changing my diet and lifestyle was crucial to managing the symptoms of my Crohn’s disease. And so, I began sharing daily photos of my meals and snacks, hoping to connect with others in the IBD community.

“You should start a blog!” a friend suggested.

No way It was my immediate thought. A blog seemed too big, too public. I was happy with my little anonymous Instagram. Until I wasn’t anymore. Soon I wanted to reach more people. I hit “live” on my blog on the first day of my senior year and entered a new handle on my Insta. Girl in healing was officially born: my face and my story were made public for the whole world to see. He wasn’t scared. He was excited, nervous, excited. I knew I had gained a lot of experience and knowledge about my chronic illness and I knew I could help many other people who were in the same boat. My goal was simple: empower people with IBD to heal themselves.

As my community grew, direct messages began to arrive.

You give me hope that I can live a full life even with a chronic illness..

My symptoms are very similar to yours. It’s so good to know I’m not alone.

Your vision of healing ourselves – our entire being – gave me a great change of perspective.

This whole thing felt amazing. Me,me normal was having a positive effect on an entire community. That’s when I knew my Instagram was more than just a fun idea: it was making a difference in people’s lives. Did I wake up terrified to share so much about myself every once in a while? Absolutely! But I calmed down and went back to work.

For a long time I limited myself to posting practical advice on how to manage symptoms with diet and lifestyle. Makes sense. I was a functional nutritional. therapy practitioner, after all. But as my own healing journey continued, I knew I needed to dig deeper. When I was 20, I began to realize that healing from a chronic illness was not just about managing the symptoms, but about facing the sadness, anger, and resentment that lived inside me. It was about forgiveness: forgiving a medical system that failed me, forgiving my body, forgiving my past. As my own healing changed, so did the content on my Instagram.

Nowadays, I only occasionally post about food because I now know that I am called to help people heal not only physically but emotionally as well. I hope to inspire people to take back the power of their own healing. I like to think of myself as a pillar of strength for my community, absorbing everything they’re going through and then creating useful content they can apply to their own lives.

In 2019, I hit rock bottom after I developed a painful infection in my intestine and had to undergo bowel resection surgery. I, of course, documented the entire terrifying experience on my Instagram. I came out of that surgery in remission, and it was the beginning of a new chapter for me. And a new Instagram account.

In 2021, I launched @AlexaInWriting, where I share poetry from my recently published collection, growing ivy: poetry for improvement, healing and love. It’s the most vulnerable I’ve ever been. It’s the closest thing to expressing what I’ve been through: the devastation, the physical pain, the feelings of unworthiness, the hope and the healing. I even started reading my poems out loud on the account and attaching my face and voice to them.

When I think about where my Crohn’s story began, when no one was listening, when my mother must have felt like she was screaming underwater, I feel like a lifetime ago. Today my voice is stronger than ever and I am anything but anonymous.

I’ve been in remission for three years and am still committed to getting through the ups and downs of this journey with my nearly 10,000 Instagram followers. That’s why I called my brand Girl In Healing: we’re always in progress. Our healing is a journey, not a destination.

I was recently asked why my poetry collection is titled growing ivy. My answer: “Because ivy can survive even after experiencing harsh environments.”