Why Inside Story exists

Hi I am Jayden.

Not long ago, life looked completely different. In April 2025 I got married to the love of my life, Sabina. I was healthy and whole, with no reason to think that would change. I'd never spent a night in a hospital. I'd never so much as taken a regular medication.

Then, over a few quiet months, it all shifted. Symptoms crept in slowly at first, then louder, and by March of 2026 they hit with a force I couldn't ignore. In a short window I lost 30 pounds. My world turned upside down.

At the end of May, I spent eight days in the hospital. A colonoscopy had to be stopped partway through, the inflammation was too severe to continue. The diagnosis: severe pancolitis, ulcerative colitis. I started biologics and steroids right there in the hospital bed.

Things have improved immensely since then. But anyone living with IBD knows the truth: this is a battle, and it's fought on two fronts, physical and mental. Some days the hardest part isn't the pain, the bathroom trips, or the sleepless nights. It's the not-knowing. What did I eat? Was it stress? The medication? Why was yesterday calm and today isn't?

I wanted something to help me fight back, a way to connect the symptoms, the pain, and even the mental weight of it all to the things I put in my body: the food, the drinks, the medications. Not a clinical chart. A companion. Something that remembers the details so you can walk into your next appointment, and your next hard day, a little more prepared.

And this isn't only for people with IBD. My wife has lived gluten free for a few years now, and quiet gut struggles are everywhere in our modern lives. Inside Story is built for all of us, anyone trying to understand what their body is telling them.

Through the hardest parts of this, I've leaned on my faith in Jesus for the strength to keep going, in body and in mind, and I'd encourage you to do the same. When life gets heavy, it's easy to fill the empty spaces with worldly distractions, things that numb the struggle for a moment but never truly satisfy. At the end of the day, only the Lord can fill that void. There's real peace to be found even in the middle of the hard days, and I've held tightly to these words:

I've also learned to lean on the people around me, and to let them take care of me. My family has carried me through this season in ways I could never fully repay, and I truly could not have done it without them.

And to my wife, Sabina: thank you. Thank you for the strength and grace you've shown, and for taking such good care of me when I couldn't take care of myself. I know this has been hard on you too, harder than you let on, and I don't take a moment of it for granted. This journey has been ours, not just mine.

Inside Story is one small way I hope to turn a hard season into something that helps someone else through theirs.

Thank you for being here. I hope Inside Story helps you understand your own story, one day at a time.

Jayden