Our names are Susan and Isaac Kishk. We met online in June 1998. After dating for two years, we married on April 2, 2000. We are both in our late 20's. On September 15, 2006, we were blessed with a tiney baby, Matthew. We have four pets-- Gizmo and Zoe (dogs), and Fozzy and Cleo (cats).

Susan was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease at the age of 12. In the early 1990's she had a bowel resection that temporarily put her disease into remission. Around 1996, her disease started coming back, consistently getting worse as the years passed. We made many trips to the Emergency Room in our early years together.

In April 2001, she got a colostomy with full rectal removal. We had hoped that this would put her disease to rest, but the Crohn's came back within a year of surgery. In early 2002 she had to have a uterine suspension because of a retroverted uterus (flipped end over end) due to the void where the rectum used to be. Spring of 2003 brought yet another surgery, Susan had her colon completely removed and now has an ileostomy.

Since having this surgery, her Crohn's has been in remission... however her health problems have not ended. Susan was hospitalized from Valentine's Day to the beginning of March 2004 due to a burst ovarian cyst that had grown to the size of about a lemon (it was able to grow so big because of the large space in her abdominal cavity).

Needless to say, we haven't been able to save a lot of money because it always seems to be going to the hospital/physicians who have treated her. In September 2004, Susan had a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) performed to see if her fallopian tubes were clear. Her obstetrician stated that he was fairly certain her tubes would be blocked, but we needed to get the test done for confirmation. A few days later we were told that the fallopian tubes were indeed blocked and that IVF was our best hope for pregnancy.

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"Crohn's disease is a chronic disorder that causes inflammation of the digestive or gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Although it can involve any area of the GI tract from the mouth to the anus, it most commonly affects the small intestine and/or colon." -- Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America

"IBD is not hereditary in the classical definition of a hereditary disease. Thus, there is no predictability that a child of an affected parent will develop the disease. IBD is, however, a somewhat familial disease in that there is an increased occurrence among blood relatives. The chances are about one in twenty that some relative of a patient will also have IBD, either Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis." -- Canadian Society of Intestinal Research

IBD is a term that refers to two diseases of the intestines: Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

"The fertility rate among women who have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis is essentially normal. The rate of spontaneous abortion is similar to that in the average population. The chances of having a normal child are also no different. In some patients, the illness worsens during pregnancy, while in others the illness might remain unchanged or even improve." -- Canadian Society of Intestinal Research

"What are the chances that the child of a mother with IBD will develop [Crohn's]? It is possible, but certainly not inevitable, that the child of a mother with IBD might develop [Crohn's]. Recent studies suggest that the risk of the offspring developing IBD if one parent has the disease is about 9%... At present, no one can predict whether a child will 'inherit' the disease from his or her parent." -- CCFA Women's Issues