Mali and Me

Sharing life as a business owner, chronic illness advocate and stoma blogger

Sharing life as a business owner,
chronic illness advocate and stoma blogger

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AS SEEN IN:

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Welcome Readers,

MY NAME IS IMALI

I’m a proud Wife, Founder and Stoma owner, based in the South of the UK. This is my space on the internet to share snippets from my day-to-day life, along with things I’ve learnt along the way. My aim is to raise awareness for EDS, Ulcerative Colitis, Autism and Arthritis.

Welcome Readers,

MY NAME IS IMALI

I’m a proud Wife, Founder and Stoma owner, based in the South of the UK. This is my space on the internet to share snippets from my day-to-day life, along with things I’ve learnt along the way. My aim is to raise awareness for EDS, Ulcerative Colitis, Autism and Arthritis.

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  • Full video on my YouTube channel (link is in my bio). I do appreciate everyone checking in on me - thank you for all the messages 🩷✨VD: Imali, a young woman with pink ombré hair sitting in a nude coloured hoodie, in front of her desk. In the background are two computer screens and a board, with various Barbie dolls attached.(Hashtags)
#ChronicIllness #HealthUpdate #EnteropathicArthritis #NewYearSameCondition #Uveitis #IBD #Colitis #Disability #ChronicPain #ChronicHealth #Cushings #Steroids #Prednisone
    4 days ago
  • Barbie has a new accessory and so do I🦻
Not the start to 2025 I anticipated, but what a difference my HAs have made!I’ve had them about 3 weeks and I honestly couldn’t go back now 🩷 I can hear the birds chirping for the first time in years!@barbie Spy my mega collection.VD: Imali wearing a light colour cardigan with pink hearts and pink hair, standing next to a tall unit with Barbie’s on display. She picks up the Barbie with Hearing Aids doll and shows it to the camera, then removing one of her hearing aids and showing this as well. At the end of the video is a photo of her hearing aid, next to the Barbie. Everything is very pink.(Hashtags)
#Barbie #BarbieCollector #BarbieUK #BarbieGirl #BarbieWithDisabilities #StomaBlogger #HearingAids #HearingAwareness #HearingAidBarbie #ChronicIllness #BarbieGirl #WheelchairUser #WheelchairBarbie
    2 weeks ago
  • First Infliximab re-loading dose ✔️Yesterday was a long day in the end, but it went fairly well as a whole!  As expected, my veins were very difficult to cannulate so it took 14 attempts - in the end resulting in a hand placement which wasn’t comfortable but did hold up throughout the treatment.I had quite a kick of premeds to make sure I wouldn’t have an allergic reaction which made me very sleepy and I am still feeling the cognitive effects today. My heart rate also went quite wild throughout, but calmed in the end.The infusion itself went well, and my body tolerated it, which is excellent news! In the process though I have managed to secure a UTI (which isn’t uncommon as a result of being immunosuppressed) so I will now be starting on antibiotics to hopefully get on top of that in time for the next infusion.T-minus 14 days until round 2!For now, I’m very foggy-brained and struggling to compose sentences, but I’m sure this will ease up with some rest and TLC.Well done body - let’s get this inflammation under control at last!
    4 weeks ago
  • I’ve been asked a few times recently to share my experience with enteropathic arthritis, and how I was diagnosed - so here we have it!It’s a relatively unusual form of arthritis and not a lot of people are speaking about it - if you have a question, please ask!Tomorrow is my first infusion for it, if Infliximab, so I will do my best to keep you up to date on how it works and IF it works!
    4 weeks ago
  • I’m so thrilled to share that I’ve been named as one of the #iAlso100 female entrepreneurs for 2025 by @fentrepreneurukAfter some much-needed quiet time over the holidays, this week marked back to work for all of us at @inkfirelimited and I can’t think of a more wonderful way to start it.“The #iAlso100 campaign highlights, champions and celebrates 100 inspirational female entrepreneurs from across the UK who are wearing many hats and doing many inter-connecting roles, with a specific focus on community and sustainability.”Congratulations to everyone who’s made it into the final 100 - it’s a massive privilege to work and advocate beside you during 2025.This year is gearing up to be a big one, not only for me, but for @inkfirelimited and I cannot wait to share some of the incredible projects we’ve been working on. Watch this space 👀VD:  Imali sitting at a desk with her laptop, which has a case with the Inkfire logo on. The video is in black and white and shows Imali mentoring on a video call. The text reads ‘F:Entrepreneur, The #iAlso100 2025 ListThe audio is an iconic clip from The Devil Wears Prada.  Audio: “What if I don’t want to live the way you live?” “Oh don’t be ridiculous Andrea, everybody wants to be us.”(Hashtags)#FEntrepreneur #SmallBusiness #FemaleBusinessWoman #DisabledLed #DisabledBusinessWoman
    1 month ago
  • It’s no secret that I’m leaning into my @barbie era since losing my hair and wearing wigs.The lovely @millesaisons sent me this gorgeous pink hair bow to style and I am absolutely in love with it. The strong clip underneath is really well constructed and holds my hair securely, while looking cute and allowing me an alternative styling option with my hair!@millesaisons sells some beautiful silk accessories which are handmade. I highly recommend having a look and giving them a follow if you (like me) love a bit of hairspiration (even if you wear wigs like me)!If you fancy treating yourself to anything from the website, you can use the code ‘IMALIL15’ which gives you 15% off (excludes custom made, sets with other discounts applied and face masks)GiftedID: I am wearing a floral print top, with a black leather jacket and jeans, standing in front of a red brick wall. The video comprises of several clips of me spinning around and showing off the pink silk hair bow in my hair, which is a similar shade to my pink wig. My hair is bobbed and wavy with a fringe. I am smiling and modelling while holding my walking stick.
    2 months ago
  • As Crohns and Colitis awareness week comes to an end, I want to share my story:After years of undiagnosed problems with my stomach, I started to notice blood and cramping when I went to the bathroom. This got severely worse on the lead up to my diagnosis, in July 2023. I  was given a strong course of prednisone steroids to lower my inflammation along with another drug called Melsalazine.I continued on these steroids almost constantly for the next 6 months, each time I attempted to taper off of them finding my symptoms would return.Eventually, I started biologic infliximab which I had from November-February 2024.  Unfortunately, my colitis was too severe and didn’t respond. By the middle of February, my bowel had almost entirely stopped working and I was constantly vomiting or having non-stop diarrhoea. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t drink, I couldn’t sleep. My body was expelling everything.I was admitted to hospital, where over the next 4 weeks, we tried everything to save my bowel, including IV steroids, infliximab, and upadacitinib. Nothing worked.On the 15th March 2024, I had emergency surgery as my bowel perforated and I developed sepsis. I was given a permanent stoma & a mucus fistula.From here, I came off of all the medication I had been on up until this point. This gave me a break from some of the side effects, which included hair loss, swelling, insomnia and joint pain.By May 2024 I was unwell again, this time not with my stomach, but instead with joint pain and stiffness that left me unable to move. In July 2024 I was diagnosed with enteropathic arthritis.I was put back on a high dose of prednisone. I have tried different medications, including sufalazine, methotrexate (which I became allergic to) and I am about to start back on infliximab. It’s also started to affect my vision, in the form of uveitis, so I now have to put steroid drops in my eyes daily as well.The hope is that the biologics can finally get control of the inflammation.It’s not easy, and the side effects are brutal. Last time I went on this infusion, I lost all my hair. Currently, I am very swollen. It’s necessary, because without the medication, I can’t move.
    2 months ago

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