Mattie's New Friend: A Crohn's Bedtime Story

Once there was a girl named Mattie. She lived in a home in a town a lot like ours.

Mattie was seven, and she had two little sisters. She loved school but couldn't go every day. Sometimes when she was sick, the teacher came to her home and taught her.

During the summer, Mattie loved to play in the sand on the beach when her family visited Grandma and Grandpa. But this summer, the family stayed home because Mattie didn't feel well. She had to take pills every day to get better.

Each day when she looked out her bedroom window, she saw her neighbors, Sherry and Maria, playing outside after dinner. Because she didn't feel well and summer was so hot, Mattie couldn't go outside to play with them.

One evening, her mom invited the girls to come inside to play.

"Thanks, but I need to get home," Sherry said.

Mattie heard Maria answer, "I'm sorry, but not right now."

The weeks of summer vacation passed, then another. Soon summer was halfway over, and Mattie hadn't played with anyone in the neighborhood.

"They don't like me, Mama." She sniffed as her mother handed her a tissue.

"I don't think that's true, Mattie," her mom said. "I just think they don't know how to stay friends with a kid who's a little different from them."

One Thursday near the end of the summer, a new family moved into the house across the street. Since Mattie was feeling pretty good, she and her mom knocked on their door after dinner. Mrs. Carson smiled when she saw Mattie and asked them to come inside.

They walked past lots of boxes waiting to be unpacked and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Mattie, how old are you?" Mrs. Carson asked.

"I'm seven. I'll be in third grade," Mattie answered.

"Then I have someone I want you to meet." Mrs. Carson stood and motioned for Mattie and her mother to follow.

At the top of the stairs, they turned down a hall and then went into the first room.

"Mattie, this is Alice," Mrs. Carson introduced her daughter. "She's going into third grade, too."

Mattie's eyes got very big. She saw that Alice was propped up on some pillows with an IV. She looked just like Mattie did when she had to be tube fed in the hospital.

"How long have you been hooked up?" she asked Alice.

"Oh, I just get my food this way at night," Alice answered, then lowered her eyes. She looked sad.

Mattie stepped closer. "I was hooked up once, too," she ventured. "It was when I was in the hospital."

"You were?" Alice's said excitedly. "What for?"

"I get sick sometimes," Mattie began.

"Mattie has Crohn's disease, Alice," her mother explained. "She has to go to the hospital sometimes to get better."

"Oh, my goodness," Mrs. Carson said. "Alice is a Crohn's kid, too!"

In the weeks before school started, Mattie and Alice became good friends. They found out they were in the same classroom and rode the bus together. Each of them was very happy to have finally found someone like herself. It was really nice to be able to talk to someone who knew what it was like to be sick and to be able to cheer up each other.