Fishers girls basketball coach endures years-long recovery with ulcerative colitis
By RICHIE HALL
The contrast is striking between the two photos.
One shows a gaunt young woman with her hair tied back. Her face is covered by a mask. She looks much older than a basketball coach in her mid 30’s.
In the other photo is that same young woman. She is at a healthy weight and her face has no mask, only a big bright smile as her team is seconds away from winning a sectional championship.
That woman is Lauren Votaw. The first picture is from 2021, when she was battling a case of ulcerative colitis, for which she would soon have surgery to remove her colon and get an ileostomy. After a lengthy recovery, Votaw is going full speed ahead with her life – raising a family, coaching basketball and spreading awareness of ulcerative colitis and ileostomy, the latter of which she believes has enhanced and saved her life.
“It was just a long ordeal,” said Votaw. “But now looking back on it, I’m like, ‘Why did we wait so long to have it done?’ Because my life is just so much better.”
Votaw said she began noticing the symptoms “around 2011, 2012.” They continued to get progressively worse over the next nine years.
“When I started having symptoms, I was diagnosed approximately, probably five months later, with ulcerative colitis,” said Votaw. There’s no cure for ulcerative colitis, but medications can put the disease into remission.
“I would go stretches where medicines would work, but then the further we got, the harder that became to keep it under control,” said Votaw.
“For nearly 10 years we had watched the highs and lows that this disease created for Lauren,” said Ann Vail, Votaw’s mother. “We witnessed periods of intense flares that really knocked her down, times when new therapies improved her condition and helped her feel much better, and other times when the drug therapies caused new, uncomfortable side effects.”
After years of dealing with the symptoms and side effects, Votaw met with her gastrointestinal doctor in November 2020 about having her colon removed. At that point, Votaw had been on a 60-milligram dosage of the corticosteroid prednisone “for way too long,” she said, also pointing out that a regular dose of prednisone is 20 milligrams.
The Mayo Clinic’s website says that corticosteroids “are generally reserved for moderate to severe ulcerative colitis that doesn’t respond to other treatments.” They also suppress the immune system, something that concerned Votaw’s husband Jeremy.
“While we were going through it during the season, I felt that my experience was constantly scared for her,” said Jeremy Votaw. “Mostly because she was so sick from colitis and her immune system was such a mess from the prednisone that she was at a high risk for COVID. There were nights when if we didn’t have a game we would come home, we’d eat dinner, she would fall asleep during Wheel of Fortune, which is on at 7 o’clock.”
Lauren Votaw agreed to the surgery but said not until after the basketball season was finished. She continued through the 2020-21 season, getting through it with the help of her family and her “awesome” staff. She also got support from her players as well.
“A lot of those players, that was a group that I was very close with because we had that great year in 2020 and then we went through COVID together,” said Votaw. “It was a group that I had a really good bond with and they were well aware of what was going on.”
“After years of various procedures and drug therapies, we supported Lauren when she decided that surgery was now the wisest option, but as parents it is concerning to think about your child having major and life-changing surgery,” said Vail. “We all relied on our strong faith and believed this was all part of God’s plan for Lauren’s life.”
A few weeks after the season ended, Votaw had surgery to remove her colon. She said the plan was to spend four or five days in the hospital, then take about six weeks off work. But she had several complications during her recovery and wound up staying in the hospital for 70 days.
Jeremy Votaw and Vail visited Lauren during her lengthy stay, during a time when COVID restrictions were still in place.
“It was just so long and it was just a matter of, you just show up every day, you know that you’re going to be there all day,” said Jeremy Votaw. “You try to understand what the doctor’s telling you, try and make sure that you ask them all the questions that you need to ask and that you understand what’s going on.”
But throughout it all, Lauren Votaw had support. In addition to her family and friends, Votaw also got tremendous care from the IU North Hospital’s fifth floor staff. In a Facebook picture, Votaw said she “got to know and love” the staff during her stay.
“Throughout the journey, Lauren received amazing medical care and compassion from various doctors, nurses and specialists – some of whom have become lifelong friends,” said Vail. “We are so grateful to the medical community that cared for Lauren throughout this journey.”
“I think we knew that eventually she was going to be okay,” said Jeremy Votaw.
As it turned out, Lauren Votaw would be better than okay. And the best was yet to come a couple of years later.
TOMORROW: Votaw talks about life with ileostomy, raising awareness and the new addition to her family.