Former hospital 'frequent flyer' offers advice to others on navigating the healthcare system

William Bilicic knows a lot about hospitals. Born with a congenital disorder of the large intestine and later developing a condition causing polyps in the lower intestine, Bilicic had more than 40 surgeries before he was 20.

Based on his experiences as a hospital "frequent flyer," he created the Spot-Aid website to offer advice to other hospital patients.

Bilicic's insider tips include what foods to eat after surgery. "The first thing that will happen when you can eat is the doctors will start with food such as Popsicles, soup, toast and ice cream. They like to start with these because they are easy to digest and will be easy on your body," he writes.

Bilicic started building Spot-Aid—named after his stuffed dog, Spot—while in high school.

"I realized that I would have benefited from having someone to talk to who had been through the same thing and been in the hospital, sometimes for months at a time," William said in a news story on Mayo's website.