I took UC in April of 2011. I was very sick for weeks and I ended up in hospital for a month. I had a total bleed out (twice) and had to have emergency surgery for a subtotal colectomy of the colon and a total blood transfusion. I was away for a few minutes and if it had not happened in the hospital, I would not be here now. I have had the reversal surgery in March this year and takedown surgery at the end of July. Contrary to your girlfriends opinion, there is a cure. The cure is having the colon removed. It is a last resort, but a cure none the less.
Between my surgeries I got back to good health. I ran a half marathon, completed tough mudder Scotland 2012, did a 9 country euro tour, took up sky diving, got back to fitness training and completed a Degree in Engineering. Its not all doom and gloom, but unfortunately there is so much social stigma attached to this disease that people are afraid to have it dealt with. I was more afraid of having a bag than I was of dying, and actually put myself in a very dangerous position by refusing the surgery for nearly 2 weeks. When I woke up on the toilet floor of the hospital at 4am with a defibrillator attached to my chest and an adrenaline shot in me, covered in blood and looking at a dozen very worried faces looking down at me, I changed my mind. I was in theatre a few LONG hours later.
I am now back to work and looking forward to the rest of my life, albeit without a colon, but it is also without a bag. And I have some wicked scars, the biggest being some 14 inches. I know that my lifespan has been significantly shortened, but I am grateful for every day I have and don't take life or the ones I love for granted any more. If he is a good friend, let him know you are thinking of him. It made all the difference to me to have my friends and family support me through that time and I could not have done it without them.