Rhiannon Bending, 31, Shares Her Story with Hereditary Pancreatitis

Although Rhiannon’s father had chronic pancreatitis, doctors were unaware that hereditary pancreatitis can be passed down through genetics and kept reassuring that her that she will not suffer from the disease. Genetic testing gave her the answers she so badly needed– she has hereditary chronic pancreatitis. Rhiannon shares the effect this disease had on her and her family, how doctors failed to connect it to her symptoms, and how genetic testing finally proved that she inherited both a cystic fibrosis and a SPINK1 gene.