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Caden and Kaila Bergmann’s lives are filled with the everyday joys of childhood. 

Kaila loves fashion and bringing her creativity into the kitchen, especially through baking. Cookies are her personal favorite.  

Caden can often be found practicing on his electronic drum set or searching for new Pokémon card packs to grow his collection. His most prized card is a Mega Charizard X EX #130 Phantasmal Flames.

But for years, an invisible illness was quietly reshaping their childhoods. 

At an early age, Kaila started to face unexplained changes in her health with a succession of symptoms that at first seemed disconnected. By the time she was 10, she lived with near-constant complications, including eczema, lip rashes, broken bones that would not heal, extreme fatigue and gums that began turning purple.

With Kaila’s symptoms not improving, her parents, Michelle and Greg, sought out answers.

A colonoscopy eventually revealed the diagnosis: Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) causing inflammation in the digestive tract. Identifying the root cause behind Kaila’s symptoms opened the door to a treatment plan that could help her begin to feel better.

“Looking back now, everything makes sense,” Michelle said. “At the time, though, Crohn’s is such an ‘invisible disease’ that we didn’t realize all of these small symptoms were connected to it.”

What the family could not know then was that Kaila’s experience would help them recognize the warning signs in her younger brother, Caden.

When Caden began showing similar symptoms, the Bergmanns knew what to look for. Doctors were able to identify and treat his Crohn’s disease earlier, minimizing the most severe complications. 

Along the way, the family began receiving care from the pediatric gastroenterology team at the USF Health Chalsty Pediatric Clinic, where they met Jacqueline Larson, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist and assistant professor at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Dr. Larson worked in collaboration with the family’s physician in New York to help continue the children’s care closer to home, giving the Bergmanns a trusted local partner.

Larson understands Kaila and Caden’s journeys in a way that goes beyond her expertise as a physician. She has lived with Crohn’s disease for more than 40 years.

Diagnosed when she was just 4 years old, Larson grew up at a time when treatment options were far more limited. She endured frequent hospitalizations, multiple surgeries and long stretches of time when illness kept her from having the same kind of childhood as her friends. Eventually, her colon could not be saved and she began relying on liquid nutrition and an ostomy bag. 

“When I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease back in the early 1980s, there were no effective treatments out there,” Larson said. “But while my colon’s life may have ended, my life was just beginning.” 

Those experiences became the foundation of her career. Larson resolved to become the kind of physician who could help children avoid the hardships she faced, leading her to specialize in pediatric gastroenterology.

“For me, my childhood was taken away because I was always sick,” she said. “Nowadays, I always tell parents, ‘I’m going to make it so your kid doesn’t even know they have Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.’” 

That mission guides the way she treats patients like Kaila and Caden. Each child represents an opportunity to change the course of a disease and, in some ways, rewrite the story Larson once lived herself.

She often thinks back to something her mother told her when she was younger.

“My mother once told me that I have this disease because I could handle it, and one day I would use my experiences to change other people’s lives for the better.” 

Advances in modern therapies have dramatically changed what is possible for children diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Today, both Bergmann siblings are responding well to individualized treatment plans tailored to their specific needs and supported locally through Larson and the USF Health team. 

Kaila independently administers her own medication, while Caden’s care utilizes a dual-treatment approach. For the family, the care and support from USF Health has had a transformative impact on their daily life.

“Ever since we have been on treatment with Dr. Larson’s help, everything’s been calmer,” Kaila said.

“My stomach has been hurting less and I can eat a lot of stuff that I couldn’t before,” Caden added. “It just helps a lot.”

Now a teenager, Kaila says what once made her feel different has become part of how she shows her confidence, creativity and strength. She has turned to fashion as an opportunity to express her voice, often incorporating shades of purple — the color associated with inflammatory bowel disease advocacy — into her outfits and accessories. 

She hopes that her story can help other children facing Crohn’s disease and similar invisible illnesses. 

“It gets easier. Things don’t stay bad,” she said. “Your illness does not define you. You can be yourself; you can do hard things.”

Kaila too believes that having a doctor who has also lived through the disease made an immeasurable difference. 

“Thank you, Dr. Larson for being someone that I can trust,” Kaila said. “Thank you for being a person that is a great doctor, but also a friend.”