Lexie Brown will continue to battle an ailment that has tortured her for the last two years: Crohn's Disease.
On June 28, the Los Angeles Sparks announced that the 29-year-old guard would be out indefinitely as she deals with the effects of Crohn's Disease and the team would provide an update on her status after the Olympic Break. Still, for someone as private as Brown, having to deal with Crohn's publicly was something she did not foresee.
Throughout the 2023 WNBA season, Brown had been experiencing the symptoms of Crohn's but she did not know what exactly the issue was. Speaking to reporters before the Sparks' game against the Minnesota Lynx on June 5, the guard explained just how it felt to deal with the disease as a professional athlete .
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"Yeah, it's been extremely difficult, and I'm a very private person, so I haven't really been doing how hard it has been on the other side of it, that's why I decided to start talking about it," Brown shared with reporters at the time. "After I released the video with Athletes Unlimited, Larry Nance actually reached out to me, talking about it, which was really amazing. I'm definitely going to connect with him a little bit more, to see how he deals with it throughout his season and stuff like that."
Brown admitted that dealing with Crohn's was "a little bit harder" than she expected and the physicality of the league was not something she had planned for. "I'm still down 20 pounds from my playing weight last season, so I'm just trying to get back into the swing of that," she continued.
"I set really high expectations for myself, that motivated me to get back healthy, get back to support, get ready for camp, get ready for the league, but now I'm just trying to manage it and get back to my health again."
For Brown, having to deal with Crohn's was something she never expected. During training camp before the 2023 season, Brown began to feel unlike herself, knowing that something was amiss but not necessarily knowing what was causing her to feel out of sorts.
Little did she know, fistulas were forming inside of her body. Simply put, fistulas are small tunnels that form between two organs and the surface of the body, which makes mundane, everyday tasks almost unbearable.
Other symptoms of Crohn's include cramps, fevers, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, the consistent feeling of needing to use the bathroom, constipation, joint pain, swelling, and bloody stools, among many other symptoms. Crohn's, in general, attacks a person's digestive tract and the exact cause of the disease is unknown.
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And despite the pain she was feeling, she powered through, playing more than 30 minutes a game in the 2023 season. After seeing a doctor about her condition in June 2023, Brown was soon in emergency surgery to help alleviate the pain she was experiencing.
While she recovered from the various medical procedures she had to undergo to keep her pain in check, many fans wondered why Brown had missed so many games. As fans became restless because of her absence, the guard explained that the only thing that mattered to her was the fact that those closest to her knew the battle she was facing.
“I was just sitting in a corner like, ‘Okay well, I’m just going to let this ride out’ because the team knows what’s going on, my family knows what’s going on, and that’s all that matters," she told Athlete's Unlimited .
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Brown spoke with her surgeon and it was decided she should miss the rest of the season to recover. And on August 29, the Sparks released a medical update and revealed that their guard will indeed miss the rest of the season because of the disease.
Although Brown missed a large portion of the season because of Crohn's, the Sparks signed her to a two-year extension in February 2024. In order to keep her symptoms in check, Brown takes a medication called Remicade, which she receives via IV, after speaking to a specialist, according to Athlete's Unlimited .
Because she missed most of the 2023 season, Brown has been limited in her capability this year, averaging 8.1 points, 3.3 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 23.7 minutes per game in 16 games. Her shooting percentages are well below her career numbers but that is expected considering she is still learning to adjust to her body. Still, the Sparks understand what she brings every night, as noted by head coach Curt Miller.
Brown is a difference maker for a young Los Angeles squad attempting to weather the storm after facing a bevy of injuries. What's more, Miller understands that the Sparks are trying to find what works for them, and the fact that Los Angeles has so many injuries makes it difficult to set a standard.
Still, Los Angeles star Dearica Hamby, whom Brown has known since high school , explained what Brown offers when she's right. "I would say coming into camp, Lexie was super confident and she had the green light on this team," the Olympian said to Mirror US Sports after the Sparks' loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Friday.
"It's just unfortunate that she's battling some things that set her back a little bit. I know we miss her shooting and her ability to create plays, but we want her to recover and get healthy, most importantly."
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