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| Caeli next to her art project from last year. |
So, (and this is what I'm getting at) they sent the girl who has Crohn's Disease home (Second Episode) and I think part of that decision was based on her mentioning that the process of being on the show was stressful and extra stress could be a trigger for disease activity. I paid extra attention because this particular disorder is a bit like Lupus. The big difference is that a person with Crohn's Disease deals with their white blood cells attacking their gastrointestinal tract instead of their organs.
So, back to the contestant (Kathryn) with Crohn's Disease. This is a girl who has a BFA in Photography from MassArt and a MFA in Photography from Yale University. Come on, she can obviously handle stress.
(You can browse her portfolio if you like.)
Anyhow, the judges eliminated her and then one of them said "I hope you feel better."
That statement made me think that her disease influenced their decision and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I guess it could have been editing and it's probably human nature to put people into categories. Maybe they had a hard time deciding who should go home and Crohn's Disease made it easier on them. They could always tell themselves "It was for her own good."
Overall, her early elimination upset me because there have been many occasions where having Lupus has definitely influenced what I feel I'm capable of and what others perceive me as being capable of. I know it's the harsh reality of the situation. Those of us with auto-immune diseases have different compasses we have to gauge our lives by.
But when I think about the richness of Kathryn's artwork and how her suffering has obviously played a part of how she expresses herself, it makes me happy and sad.
Happy that she's who she is partly because she has Crohn's Disease and sad because it's not fun to be eliminated from anything because of it.
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