World Ostomy Day!
4th October 2025 World Ostomy Day!
I've never posted this out before, but after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease back in Feb 2020 and struggling with severe Crohn's symptoms throughout lockdown and beyond, it was deemed necessary to have a major surgery called a proctocolectomy to remove my troublesome large bowel and have a stoma formed on my tummy (ileostomy) and now have a bag attached to me for the rest of my life. I knew I was very poorly but didn't realise quite how poorly until I went in for the the op. The surgery actually saved my life, my insides were in a bit of a mess!
It's been an incredibly long journey to get my health, my life and my fitness back on track, but I'm pretty much there! The operation has resolved for now the chronic inflammation I had along with all of the horrible symptoms associated with Crohn's, I had them all, from chronic fatigue, brain fog, crippling abdominal pain, going to the toilet too much to name but a few. My life wasn't a life at all, and I was leaving a black hole in my family, not having the energy or capability to be able to do normal things, like play actively with my kids, to stay awake for the whole day or exercise.
I had my op back in Feb 2023, which resolved most of the Crohn's symptoms, but left me with horrendous chronic fatigue. After battling against the fatigue and lots of tests later I was told last July independently by my surgeon and my consultant that I would never run again, and I was just one of the unlucky ones, I had to face my fear that I may have to resign myself to a sedentary life.... but not before I had tried everything in my powers to get some energy back! I wasn't looking at competing or running marathons, but just getting out for a couple of 5k's a week across the fields with the dog.
My GP was brilliant in supporting me and we tried B12 injections which gave me a whole new lease of life! So I'll be having these every 8 weeks for the rest of my life. Plus started strength training, very basic to start with, and thank my awesome Physio Wife Laura from Physio Form for setting me up with a plan to build from the ground up and make my body strong again. I also received some help from a fantastic coach for stoma patients Mesha down in London who helped develop my strength, build my mental focus and hone in my nutrition, this gave me great confidence to move my body in a way that I was scared of. Alongside this started a run walk program, with my first attempt just 1km, yep 1km which as a runner sounds pretty mundane, and to be honest felt like a fraud as I didn't even break into a sweat!
So just over a year on, and here I am, I'm back running regularly, arguably stronger than before, and managed to run my a couple of 10k races and even a half marathon. Better than that, I feel better in myself, my mental health has improved and most importantly my family life with my wife and children is great. I have my life back!
Note... Life with a stoma saved my life, and will forever be grateful. However it's not a smooth road, I have to be a careful when lifting awkward objects, and I struggle with bending over like yoga poses. I have regular blockages which can land me in hospital at the drop of a hat, in the 6 weeks leading upto my first 10k race last September I had 3 emergency admissions, twice narrowly avoided emergency surgery. My stoma also has a tendency (just like last week) to try and herniate through itself, which is pretty painful and distressing and could lead to a rupture or prolapse. But that's life, so onwards we go!
Happy Ostomy day to all my other Ostomy warriors and IBD warriors! Phil