Crohn’s disease wrecked her plans. Then she found MUSC’s Arts in Healing

December 12, 2024
Woman's hands hold small picture with an eye in the middle.
NaQuan Battle, who has Crohn's disease, holds one of her smaller creations. Photos provided

The disease that struck NaQuan Battle in high school, eventually derailing her college career and almost killing her, has done something else, too. It showed that her passion for art, which she used to consider impractical, can be life-changing. 

Some of that art will appear in the MUSC Health West Ashley Medical Pavilion’s Gastrointestinal Clinic starting Dec. 18. 

Becoming an artist with work on public display is not what Battle thought she’d find herself doing. But Crohn’s disease wasn’t part of the plan either.

A work of art by a woman with Crohn's disease shows three leaves sprouting with a red capped mushroom in the background. 
"Genesis," one of NaQuan Battle's creations that will be displayed at the West Ashley Medical Pavilion.

“I learned throughout the past five years that anything can happen and the best way to be prepared for the unexpected is to be present. Whereas with the old me, I had everything planned out. I had a 10-year plan, everything was planned out, but Crohn's had other plans,” she said.

Crohn’s, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, has led to three operations for Battle. It also brought her into contact with the Arts in Healing team at MUSC Health, a program started in 2018 to promote better well-being through the arts.

“They offered art therapy during one of my hospital stays. And just me and the art therapist got to talking and after I created [the artwork] ‘Trust,’ I showed her,” Battle said.

“Trust” was the start of a series of important moments of healing for Battle at MUSC Health as she poured her feelings into her art. Art therapy is a type of psychotherapy that helps patients express themselves without feeling like they have to create something perfect. The focus is on the process instead of the result. 

The therapists have master’s-level degrees or higher with training in both art and therapy. Arts in Healing at MUSC Health also offers music therapy and dance/movement therapy.

Battle loved what the program allowed her to express. For example, here’s what her work called “Trust: Emergence” meant to her. 

A young woman wearing a scarf and a red top gestures toward a n notebook with artwork in it. 
NaQuan Battle with some of her art during one of her hospitalizations.

“I created that in September 2021, which is actually when I almost passed [from complications of Crohn’s disease]. And it just came to me, and I sketched out on my sketchbook and I was like, as soon as I'm well enough I'm going to put this on canvas. And it's basically about new life being created from death,” Battle said.

“Because even though I didn't physically die, I felt I just became a different person. I hope to portray the pain and the grief, but also in the center, where the digestive tract is, there's a seed. And there’s a plant growing out of it. It's supposed to represent that even through there was this pain, this loss, something would come of it. And that was my hope at the time.”

As her growing body of work shows, her hope was well founded. Senior art therapist Kristen Rudy said the messages Battle conveys through her work are important. “NaQuan has an amazing story to share with the community, especially for others who have chronic painful diseases like Crohn’s. Yet, she is so much more than her medical condition, she is a creative young woman who has a bright future,” Rudy said.

A future that now features art. Battle has created an Instagram account called “Beauty of Mistakes” for her work. “It aims to share my story and experiences through the artwork I share in the hopes that people who also struggle with chronic pain and chronic conditions can feel less alone,” she said.

A work of art with a pink square that surrounds a green butterfly. 
"Trust: The Self" will also be displayed in the GI clinic in West Ashley. It's a take on the saying "trust your gut."

It also shows how she embraces the possibilities that can come from difficult experiences. “Crohn’s has just made me reconnect with my true passion in such a profound way and has taught me that what we believe to be certain, or the sure bet, is rarely so.” 

That willingness to accept uncertainty as she deals with Crohn’s has drawn the admiration of Rudy and the Arts in Healing team. “NaQuan has a deeply spiritual nature and enjoyed the healing aspects in art therapy of guided mindfulness-based meditation and self-compassion practices, which are evidence-based interventions,” Rudy said.

Those interventions have helped Battle as she deals with something more than two-and-a-half million other Americans are living with: inflammatory bowel disease. “I still have symptoms, but it is a lot better. I do wish I would've gotten my first surgery a lot sooner. But it was surgery, and I was scared.” 

Now, instead of fear, Battle is focused on hope – and the future. “I really appreciate how much the Arts in Healing program has helped me at MUSC. I would really love to do something like that. I didn't even know becoming an art therapist was possible.”

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