Brandi Barger

2010 Ina Brudnick Award Recipient, South Region

At the age of 16, Brandi Barger had a lot to deal with – she lost her older brother to ulcerative colitis and, just six months later, was diagnosed with the disease herself. For the next several years she endured countless hospitalizations and surgeries – she could not even eat for two years, but after receiving an ileostomy, Brandi regained her health and turned her focus to school, modeling and singing.

Initially after surgery, Brandi feared she would be unable to hide her ostomy, thinking it could prevent her from becoming a professional performer. “It was hard to see myself as pretty at first, but after a while I began seeing myself as beautiful, ostomy and all,” says Brandi.

It was the support she received from her family, friends, surgeon and WOC nurse, Kathy Murphy, who made all the difference in her recovery. Brandi recalls how a woman from her church created an embroidery angel pattern and allowed others to download it from her website free of charge on the condition that they embroider an angel and send it to Brandi. To date, Brandi has received more than 1,200 angels from as far away as Europe and Africa.

“The support I received inspired me to help others even though I was ill” says Brandi. So, instead of receiving Christmas presents, Brandi asked to become a St. Jude Children's Hospital partner and spurred those in her community to make a yearly donation of $1,000 to the organization in her name.

Today, Brandi, 22, of Coldspring, TX, is a musical theater major in her sophomore year at Sam Houston State University and aspires to be a country or Christian singer. She is also considering a career in nursing, so that she can help others facing difficult health challenges.