Seattle Storm Guard Lexie Brown on How to Live With a Chronic Condition

The way Lexie Brown sinks three-pointers and crashes the glass, you probably don’t know she’s managing a severe chronic illness. But the Seattle Storm guard has been living with perianal Crohn’s disease since 2023, a condition that, from the start, brought on debilitating fatigue and near-constant pain, whether she was sitting, standing, or sliding across the court on defense.

These days, with the right medication and a routine built around rest and recovery, Brown has been feeling stronger than ever, and she’s ready to play her best season yet. Here’s what she’s learned about navigating Crohn’s as a professional athlete, along with her advice for anyone managing a chronic illness.

Accept that your ‘normal’ will change

Brown was in the middle of the 2023 WNBA season, then with the Los Angeles Sparks, when she underwent her first surgery to drain perianal fistulas—painful, infection-prone passages near the rectum.

She tried to return less than a month later, but managed just two games before landing back in the operating room. The following season brought its own challenges: cycling through medications, managing intense fatigue, and rebuilding strength after losing weight from months of not being able to eat much.

“I think that’s always the hardest part of dealing with a chronic illness, or something like Crohn’s, is the initial symptoms and the initial diagnosis,” Brown says. “That’s when your world shatters, and you’re like, ‘OK, so now what? What is my normal going to look like?’”

For Brown, “normal” now comes down to being prepared. “There are daily things that I have to be cautious of, knowing where the bathrooms are or not eating too much food during the day if I’m out somewhere and having my gauze pads and everything on me,” she says. “I always have to carry a purse. So it’s actually kind of nice because when I go to sporting events, I get to carry my bags inside.”

Listen to your body

At this point, the worst of managing Crohn’s is largely behind Brown. Structure has replaced urgency: a strict routine built around paying close attention to what her body needs to perform, on and off the court.

That becomes especially important during the WNBA season, when long practices and heavy game schedules demand more than her body is usually ready for coming out of the offseason. The adjustment period is real, and Brown has learned not to push past it.

“I’m probably resting and sleeping more than I would like to be, but it’s all because I want to have as much energy as possible,” Brown says. “And for somebody who isn’t a professional athlete, I think still listening to your body is the most important thing.”

Advocate for yourself

For Brown, asserting her experience wasn’t just about getting answers for her medical issues. It was about giving herself the time to find the right ones. “I always say advocating for yourself is so important,” says Lexie Brown. “I have read a lot of stories and seen a lot of posts [on social media] about people going to doctors and their doctors just telling them it was nothing.”

That experience isn’t abstract for Brown. In 2023, when she went to the gynecologist, describing pain while using the bathroom and during everyday movement, it was initially dismissed as hemorrhoids. She didn’t receive an official diagnosis until January 2024 from a specialist—and even then, finding the right routine and medication took time. “I was being patient, but I had an organization and a coaching staff and teammates that weren’t as patient as I was,” Brown says. “I was trying to figure out what was going to make my body get back to what it was before I got diagnosed.”