SAMMAMISH, Wash. -- Jessica Terry is only in high school. But she has solved her own medical mystery -- an elusive illness that even pathologists had missed.

"I was very sick. I missed almost half of middle school," Terry said.

She suffered from fevers, vomiting, anemia and abdominal pain that sometimes dropped her to her knees. But high school homework changed her life.

Terry made the discovery during histology class at Eastside Catholic High School. The assignment: study tissue diseases.

Terry's group chose the intestines, intrigued by Terry's undiagnosed problem.

"There were just no answers anywhere," she said. "And once, they diagnosed me with irritable bowel (syndrome) and colitis it was kind of an answer. But we knew it was worse than that because I was always very sick."

Terry asked her pathologist for her own slides.

For days she studied them. Then she spotted it.

Terry summoned her teacher, Mary Margaret Welch.

"All of a sudden she says, 'I think I found something.' I say, 'what?' 'Miss Welch, Miss Welch, come over here. I think it's a granuloma,'" said Welch.

Granuloma are dark-centered cells -- indicators of Crohn's disease. The autoimmune disease attacks digestive cells and prevents the absorption of nutrients.

"In 24 hours, all of a sudden, Jessica has a confirmation from her physician," said Welch.

Terry's pathologist was embarrassed. But Terry doesn't hold a grudge. Instead, she's focusing on her future based on her new discovery.

"As I get older the disease can get worse," she said.

Terry's research gave her the diagnosis and the confidence to attempt to medical school.

"It's weird I had to solve my own medical problem," she said.

Terry is now taking the lessons she learned and turning it into a children's book that she hopes will help other kids and parents understand a truly painful disease.

sounds like the pathologist was lazy perhaps?

way to go....good for her

Toxic mold in your house can confound the daylights out of you as well. I had a dermatologist not have any idea what was giving me a rash even after a plug biopsy. You can not put all of your faith in doctors. they do not have all the answers!

How weird is that!!??

Looks like she was smarter then the doctors.How about that.Well good now that she has the answer.
Now she can deal with the illness.As bad as it is,its better to know what is wrong.

Actually if you got some strange problem, google around before you run to the doctor. You might be able to give your own diagnosis and just ask for his signature for a prescription medicine .

That just makes me feel better about paying those high premiums on my medical insurance......

or incompetent

Compelling....

My son has been diagnosed with Crohns and/or colitis. He has symptoms that match both. Since they often treat both the same, and because he responded well to the meds, they never felt it necessary to distinguish one or the other.

It sounds like she was diagnosed with colitis, and yet she really did have symptoms more in line with crohns. What I don't get is why they didn't pursue it further when she didn't respond to her treatments. My son sees a specialist every year to discuss how he's doing. Every 2 or 3 years he gets scoped. We adjusted treatments and meds for a few years until we got to what worked best. I'm curious why the similar steps weren't taken in her case.