Latest news with #MeganJohnson
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Fitness Trainer Didn't Go to the Doctor for 7 Years Despite Strange Symptoms. Turns Out, She Had a Cyst the Size of a Baby (Exclusive)
Megan Johnson is a personal trainer from Chattanooga, Tenn. The 28-year-old self-diagnosed herself with diastasis recti, the separation of the rectus abdominis muscles, after not seeing a doctor in years After sharing her story online, Johnson realized her symptoms required medical attentionApart from visiting an optometrist, Megan Johnson hadn't seen a primary care doctor or gynecologist in nearly seven years. With no health insurance, a fear of medical bills, and a history of negative experiences with doctors, the personal trainer avoided seeking professional help. Trusting in her own judgment and online research, the 28-year-old from Chattanooga, Tenn., thought she had uncovered the main cause of her symptoms: diastasis recti. It wasn't until she shared her story on TikTok that everything began to shift as followers flooded her comments with concern and encouragement to seek real answers. What she discovered after finally taking herself to the emergency room left her stunned, but somehow relieved. 'My stomach was getting bigger and just wider,' Johnson tells PEOPLE exclusively. She first began noticing minor changes in 2021 after forming a cyst, which ended up rupturing. Two years later, she started experiencing severe bloating and painful periods as well as weight gain around her stomach. She realized something was off when her belly button started shifting from an innie to an outie, and the middle of her abdomen seemed to split. Curious to know more about her symptoms, she searched the internet and discovered diastasis recti – a condition where rectus abdominis muscles separate, according to the Cleveland Clinic. After learning how to test at home using a two-finger method, Johnson was convinced diastasis recti was to blame for her symptoms. She became determined to manage the condition as best she could on her own. She avoided both gynecologists and regular doctors due to past experiences where she felt dismissed. After losing health insurance through her parents, and later at her job, she chose not to renew her coverage. 'I just felt like it was a waste of money and so I just stopped going,' Johnson reveals. Over time, she started to believe that diastasis recti, coupled with visceral fat storage and hormonal imbalance, were causing changes to her body. In less than a year, Johnson had gained over 10 pounds and could no longer fit into her old clothes. However, over a five- to six-month span, she began noticing drastic growth around her abdomen, leaving her unrecognizable and filled with self-doubt, especially in her career as a physical trainer. Johnson ate healthy and weight trained, but despite doing everything "right," nothing seemed to work. That disconnect left her feeling like a 'fraud.' 'Feeling like I'm not able to help myself makes me feel unqualified to help other people,' Johnson admits. 'It was definitely something that knocked my confidence a lot.' In April 2025, she took to TikTok to discuss her struggles in hopes of getting some outside opinions. Almost immediately, online strangers flooded Johnson's video with their thoughts, with some even questioning whether she was pregnant. The comments provided a much-needed wake-up call, and it was then that she realized diastasis recti might not be the sole root of her health problems. 'It was insane. This army of women came to my rescue, you know, saying, 'this is exactly what I experienced. You look like me whenever I had that,'' she recalls. 'So once I got confirmation from other people, it gave me the confidence to be like, okay, you know what? This actually might be a bigger issue than I thought. I'm gonna go get it checked out.' As followers became more invested in her health journey, Johnson continued to document the entire experience on TikTok. She started by taking them on a trip to the emergency room on May 1st. 'This is not anybody's fault but my own,' Johnson said in a TikTok video while packing to leave for the ER. 'My own pride got in the way of me getting help because I would justify my symptoms - 'like nothing's wrong with me and I know best.' ' After a number of tests and scans, it was confirmed that she did have diastasis recti. However, she was also diagnosed with an ovarian cyst close to the size of a newborn baby. Johnson read the results out loud in a video, stating that she had a 'massive cystic mass extending from the left upper quadrant to the floor of the pelvis measuring up to 48 centimeters.' With the news, many followers questioned why she hadn't seen a doctor sooner. She likened her health journey to a 'toxic relationship,' noting how it's easy to think everything is fine when change happens over time. Things didn't fall apart overnight, but through small changes that added up. By the time she noticed, it was clear something had to change. 'Ya'll are really giving me a reality check,' she said in a video responding to comments. 'I feel like I have a bunch of big sisters that are getting on to me but in a loving way – calling me in, not calling me out – and I hear you.' With the help of social media, Johnson was able to find the confidence to see a gynecologic oncologist, who decided the best course of action would be to surgically remove the cyst. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, the trainer felt relieved. 'I have some satisfaction…because I know that the thing that I've been dealing with for the past four years, that I thought I would be struggling with for the rest of my life, there's a solution, and, like, one day I won't have to struggle with it,' she tells PEOPLE. Throughout her journey, Johnson has remained committed to staying positive online. She tried to make light of the situation by making sex reveal cupcakes and naming her large mass, 'Cysterella." 'I really feel like, no matter how it turns out, it's going to serve a bigger purpose than just me and that gives me a lot of hope,' she shares. Much of her energy and optimism comes from her strong faith. Johnson believes that every experience, whether good or bad, has the potential to lead to a meaningful takeaway. On May 22, Johnson underwent a successful surgery with 27 pounds of fluid being drained out of her body. Unfortunately, the doctors had to remove an ovary and a fallopian tube in the process of pulling out the cyst, which Johnson knew was a possibility. Regarding her diastasis recti, Johnson's doctors are hoping it heals over time, especially now that the main cause of all her issues has been resolved. By sharing her story, she remains hopeful that others will learn from it and use it as an opportunity to self-reflect on their own health journeys. 'Don't suffer in silence,' Johnson emphasizes. 'Don't just sit back and hide your shame or embarrassment about what's going on with your body because most people are doing the best that they can, and we can't help it.' Johnson has decided that she will keep up with her yearly checkups and keep a closer eye on her health. 'I've seen so many other comments of people saying that they are now scheduling appointments where they're gynecologists or the doctor or the specialist or whoever because of me, and because of that, it makes all of this worth it,' she said in a TikTok video. 'If I had to go back and go through everything that I did for the same result, I absolutely would," she added. "And now that I know better, I'm gonna do better.' Read the original article on People
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Isaiah 117 House holds community-wide kickoff, goal to open house
DES MOINES, Iowa — Isaiah 117 House held a community-wide kickoff event at Indian Hills Junior High, raising awareness for foster children in need on Sunday. Isaiah 117 House is a non-profit focused on caring for children awaiting placement in the foster care system. The organization is moving into Polk County, where there are over 1,100 children in foster care. Megan Johnson, the Polk County Expansion Coordinator at Isaiah 117 House, said that the organization is committed to making a difference in Iowa. ARL, DMARC host first drive-through pet food giveaway 'Isaiah 117 House works to serve three missions. First, we want to change how foster care begins. Reduce the trauma and try to make it a more comfortable, safe experience. We want to support the HHS Department and support the social workers, and not very many people are saying thank you to social workers these days, and then we want to ease the transition for foster homes,' Johnson said. Johnson said that for the next six months, Isaiah 117 House will focus on raising awareness with the ultimate goal of building a house to serve as a transitional home for children awaiting foster care. 'That's our end goal, would be to have a house. It's not a group home. It's not a shelter. It's a transitional house where kids can come and stay for usually two to three days while they work to locate a foster home, or a relative, or friend, or the family, or a teacher, where they can go and live long term,' Johnson said. Isaiah 117 House will hold meetings on the fourth Monday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the Urbandale Public Library. The first meeting is scheduled for June 23rd. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
30-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
How Sacramento is looking to increase traffic safety on Folsom Boulevard
SACRAMENTO — Sacramento has reached a top-20 list no one wants to be on. The city ranked as one of the most dangerous places for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians in the nation. Now, safety improvements are being made along one busy street where a mother lost her life three years ago. "The biggest problem that we have is people drive way too fast," said Megan Johnson, a senior engineer with the city. In January 2022, Lupe Jimenez Brown was hit and killed by a car outside her daughter's elementary school on Folsom Boulevard in east Sacramento. "It was a day that we never want to see again," said Isaac Gonzalez, founder of Slow Down Sacramento. Gonzalez is a parent at the same school and says the road remains unsafe. "We see near misses that really resemble the crashes that happened, that took Lupe's life," he said. Now, city traffic engineers are unveiling a roadway redesign along a 16-block stretch of Folsom Boulevard, including the intersection where Lupe died. The first planned change is a road diet, where one of the two lanes in each direction is removed to make way for a new center turn lane and a new buffered bicycle path. "Doing a lane reduction makes the road feel more constrained, and it eliminates the likelihood and tendency to just drive way too fast," Johnson said. Another more controversial proposal is to remove 19 on-street parking spaces that could impact some local businesses along the boulevard. "There is limited parking as it is, and most buildings don't have parking spots around this area," said Carrie Bailon, a hairdresser at Black Sheep Hair Studio on Folsom Boulevard. "So it's like, 'Where are the clients going to go?' " Removing the parking spots will create a continuous bike path to Sacramento State University and is part of the city's Vision Zero goal to eliminate all vehicle crashes that cause serious injury or death. "I'm really happy that the city's working on this right now, and hopefully it's installed before anyone else has to die," Gonzalez said. The city is currently designing the Folsom Boulevard traffic safety plan and hopes to break ground in late 2026. "Our number one priority is always going to be safety, and so it is a safety need that's driving this decision," Johnson said.
