Girls With Guts Retreat, 2014

(music is playing) I think something that I took away from this and that I learned is that everybody has a different experience and prior to coming here I often compared myself and I was like, alright I'm not sick, that person has had you know, 15 surgeries or even one surgery. But everyone's experience is completely different. I think that you need to value yourself and the struggles that you have gone through. I came to the retreat because I wanted to meet women just like me and I wanted to get tips and perspectives on life and my future. And I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to have. The reason why I came to this retreat is because I wanted a sense of more support and understanding and it was awesome to just walk up to a group and just talk about my poop and no one had a problem with it. Some of the support that you can't get at home, you can't get from your family but you, you know they wanna give it but they can't. And so, it was really nice and just a really relaxing weekend to get to know everyone and you know you make friendships that re gonna last a lifetime. And you know, you know if you go home and two years from now you have to have another surgery, you can call up those girls and they can be like, "Oh, it's gonna suck but we're here.", and it was just really good to get to know everyone and know that you're not alone and it's fine.