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Gastroenterology
After years of living with Crohn’s disease and trying treatments that didn’t work, Amy Marshak felt she was running out of options. The chronic illness affected her career, her energy and the everyday family moments she cherished most. At Mayo Clinic, she found a new treatment approach and renewed hope for the future.
Watch: A mom’s journey beyond Crohn’s disease and back to the moments that matter
Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (2:35) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: “Mayo Clinic News Network.” Read the script.
“I first started noticing symptoms of my Crohn’s disease in the fall of 2018,” Amy recalls.
She is a lawyer, a wife and a mom of two.
“It was about six months after my younger daughter was born,” Amy says. “She’s really never known me as a parent without Crohn’s.”
Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition that can cause abdominal pain, weight loss and digestive issues.
“It’s really difficult day-to-day living with Crohn’s because of the amount of pain I experienced,” Amy says. “It really felt like I could do one or the other, be a lawyer or be a mom, to have the energy to do either of those things.”
Amy had a portion of her colon and small bowel removed, then went through a series of medications.
“Some of them worked for a short period of time, and then I developed antibodies to them and would never work again,” Amy says. “I was sort of at the end of all the options that exist because my Crohn’s disease is spread throughout my small intestine.”
Months turned into years.
“I worked so hard to find a solution to make Crohn’s disease livable but felt no closer to a solution than I was before,” Amy says. “I did some research, spoke with my doctor, and they suggested coming to Mayo Clinic.”
In July 2024, Amy traveled to Jacksonville, Florida, to meet Dr. Jana G. Al Hashash, a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist.
“She really did want something cutting-edge and something different,” recalls Dr. Al Hashash, who has collaborated closely with colleagues, including Dr. Ernesto Ayala, a hematologist and oncologist, to treat refractory Crohn’s disease.
“What we’re performing here is a newer protocol,” says Dr. Al Hashash. “This stem cell transplant program is for patients like Amy who have failed multiple medical therapies and whom we want to try to reset the (immune) system.”
The process uses chemotherapy followed by the body’s own stem cells to reset the immune system and reduce the effects of Crohn’s disease.
“If Crohn’s disease comes back, we’d like to see that it’s coming back weaker than it was before, with less inflammation and less impact on the body,” says Dr. Al Hashash.
“This was really both the best and the only option there was, and that there was another option that had such promise was really exciting,” Amy says.
In addition to getting back to her family and career, Amy had another milestone in mind: to be able to sit through a whole family dinner without pain.
“I love family dinners,” Amy says. “I think they’re a wonderful way to connect with my kids. It just feels frustrating not to be part of that family moment.”
Amy’s treatment began in early 2025 and kept her in the hospital for nearly two months. She recorded herself reading bedtime stories to her children nightly, who were nearly 1,000 miles away.
About 100 days after treatment, tests confirmed that the stem cell transplant was successful.
“Amy is a beacon of hope for people with Crohn’s disease who failed multiple therapies,” says Dr. Al Hashash. “She’s done fantastic.”
Amy’s care team continues to monitor her progress. Since returning home, Amy has been able to get back to the things she loves, starting with that family moment around the dinner table.
“I’m excited to be able to play with them more, to be with them more, to have more energy for their projects and ideas,” Amy says. “And also, to be able to balance work-life in a way that I haven’t been able to balance in the past few years because of my Crohn’s.”
