A North Belfast woman is raising awareness on hidden and chronic illnesses after she was left severely ill due to her own condition.
Olivia Bartlett has had Type 1 Diabetes for 15 years and more recently, the 30-year-old was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease after a series of unbearable symptoms. The young woman, from Newtownabbey, said she would have been passing blood and going to the bathroom up to 30 times a day.
Alongside these uncomfortable experiences, Olivia was vomiting and losing a lot of weight. In February 2020, she was rushed to hospital by ambulance, where she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis - a long-term condition where the colon and rectum become inflamed.
