After 17 surgeries and three chronic illnesses, a Whitby woman is trying to end the stigma around ostomy bags.After spending months in the hospital, she was left with a permanent ostomy bag.
Sojo was gifted an ostomy cover from family friends and then teamed up with her brother to create a company to produce ostomy bags for others. “I wanted to destigmatize and normalize and make ostomy something that ultimately not something that should be shameful and something that you can wear proudly and something that you can ultimately show off,” Sojo said.
She turned to social media to help promote the company, but to also show people you can live with an ostomy bag.“I started building a platform of people just like me living with ostomies as well facing a really hard time,” said Sojo. “They saw that it [the bag] reignited my spark and that again it really helped me love my bag and my body once again.