{"id":4685,"date":"2018-04-19T15:15:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=4685"},"modified":"2026-08-17T15:17:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T15:17:55","slug":"journalist-sonya-goins-battles-crohns-with-dignity-determination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2018\/04\/19\/journalist-sonya-goins-battles-crohns-with-dignity-determination\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalist Sonya Goins battles Crohn\u2019s with dignity, determination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I met Sonya Goins several years ago and was immediately struck by her vibrant spirit. Though I knew of her professional accolades, most of our interactions were social in nature. It would be many years after meeting when our professional paths merged, and Goins began contributing as a writer for Insight News.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost from the beginning, I knew Goins suffered from Crohn\u2019s disease, but I never had a true understanding nor appreciation for what was really happening to her. It was hard to appreciate the pain she was in because with almost every interaction there was no mention of the pain and the smile from her face never dimmed. It wasn\u2019t until I began to see the many, many photos of her in the hospital and Facebook updates on her page that I began to understand the gravity of the disease.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a colleague, we wanted to bring light to Goins\u2019 plight. But as I told her during a recent conversation, \u201cThe best person to tell your story is you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, we present Sonya Goins \u2026 in her own words.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name is Sonya Goins. I\u2019m a television news reporter in the Minneapolis area. My three young adult children are my pride and joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had Crohn’s disease since 1985. I was in college when I got sick \u2026 thought it was the dorm food. I spent more time at the doctor\u2019s office than I did in class. My symptoms were debilitating; lots of painful stomach cramps, bloody, watery stools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctor first diagnosed me with ulcerative colitis, then after a series of unsuccessful treatments, and a lot of tests, I was diagnosed with Crohn\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a period when I didn\u2019t know if I would make it. I dropped out of school for two semesters and moved back home so my parents could help take care of me. I had several rectal\/vaginal fistulas. They were very painful and hard to get rid of. The hospital became my second home, and the operating room became a very familiar destination. I\u2019m 5\u20182\u201d and at the time, I barely weighed 85 pounds. At one point, things got so bad I was put on total parenteral nutrition (fed by IV). I couldn\u2019t eat any solid foods for six months; only soup. This treatment gave my digestive tract a rest, ulcers and fistulas healed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward 10 years, I got married, had children and Crohn\u2019s reappeared. Prednisone, Imuran, Pentasa, Asacol, you name it, I was on it. Nothing seemed to control my symptoms. In 2004, surgeons removed half my colon, and I was put on Remicade. It worked for a few years, but then I developed antibodies and had to be taken off the drug. Cimzia and then Humira were the next biological drugs targeted to treat my Crohn\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My disease is severe and I\u2019m running out of options when it comes to medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides my colon, I also have Crohn\u2019s in my upper GI tract. During a flare, if I drink something hot, I can feel it moving through my esophagus. It\u2019s very painful. Crohn\u2019s has also affected my eyes. This summer I was diagnosed with iritis. Every time I would look at bright light, my eyes hurt. I was put on steroid eye drops. It\u2019s serious, you could lose vision if not treated. I\u2019m still dealing with this issue. Six months ago, I was put on Stelara. However, In January, I had a really bad flare, and I\u2019m now back on total parenteral nutrition, or TPN (IV nutrition).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this time around, I can\u2019t eat any food, just hard candies, broth, water, and coffee on occasion. I\u2019ll endure this treatment for a year.  Not eating food is starting to wear on me, I\u2019m seeing a therapist to help me cope. I also pray a lot. Through the grace of God I\u2019ll get through this. Despite my circumstances, I\u2019m hopeful.  In fact, that\u2019s what I named my catheter \u2013 \u201cHopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not letting my situation dictate how I live my life.  On March 4, I walked a half marathon.  Crossing the New Orleans Half Marathon finish line with my buddy \u201cHopeful,\u201d is one of my proudest moments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were many reasons to sit this race out \u2013 fatigue, pain, recent foot surgery, to name a few. However, I had a million reasons to lace up my shoes. I\u2019m stubborn and I refuse to let Crohn\u2019s win. I walked 13.1 miles for my buddy Mike Stark, who is struggling with Crohn\u2019s. I walked 13.1 miles for Minnesota pediatric patients. I walked 13.1 miles for my children. I walked 13.1 miles for myself. Crohn\u2019s disease has taken away so many things from me in the past 30 years\u2014 eating, peace of mind, relationships. I wasn\u2019t going to let it remove one more thing. The goal was to show just because you have a chronic condition, you don\u2019t have to let it define you. Live your life. Every time I look at my race pictures, I remind myself that \u201cI did it.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My sickness has made me stronger.  You can\u2019t be shy when you\u2019re walking around with a backpack full of IV fluids.  I\u2019m more confidant at work and in my personal life.  I like to tell folks who are newly diagnosed with IBD to hang in there. You can do amazing things with your life despite the horrible diseases. I\u2019m also a Crohn\u2019s Colitis Foundation board member (Minnesota\/Dakota chapter).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Become an advocate for yourself, become an advocate for others. Research and spread awareness. This is how we\u2019ll find cures.  But most of all, remain positive. Your outlook determines your outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Mayo Clinic, Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that causes inflammation of the digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inflammation caused by Crohn’s disease often spreads deep into the layers of affected bowel tissue. Crohn’s disease can be both painful and debilitating, and sometimes may lead to life-threatening complications.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no cure for the disease.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I met Sonya Goins several years ago and was immediately struck by her vibrant spirit. Though I knew of her professional accolades, most of our interactions were social in nature. It would be many years after meeting when our professional paths merged, and Goins began contributing as a writer for Insight News. Almost from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2882,38,2881],"class_list":["post-4685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-crohns-disease","tag-minneapolis","tag-sonya-goins","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-6-8.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4687,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4685\/revisions\/4687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}