Richard’s Story

I came home from work one evening and had a bacon roll for my tea. During the evening I started to feel sick & unwell, which I put down to a bad batch of bacon. I then made my way up to the toilet for obvious reasons. From there I went steadily downhill & my memory of what happened is very sketchy. According to my wife, I was sweating profusely & in & out of consciousness & then started coughing up blood. My wife had already called an ambulance, but from this point, I have no memory. I was rushed into the hospital & straight to an operating room. I had a hernia that I had no idea about & it had wrapped itself around my bowel & cut off the blood supply & spilled feces inside my body cavity, causing sepsis.

Things happened very quickly from that moment, my heart stopped 4 times on the operating table, and my family was invited to say goodbye to me as I was in a coma & not expected to make it through the night. My poor wife & elderly mother stayed at the hospital by my bedside & somehow I made it through the night. I then spent 4 weeks in a coma in intensive care.

When I finally woke, I found I could not move much & panicked so they had to put me out again. It turned out that my brain had been damaged due to lack of oxygen & I had to spend a long time learning to walk, eat & speak, all whilst coping (or not coping) with a permanent Ileostomy.

It’s been a very long fight, but I am still living day by day 6 years later. I am registered disabled & can’t walk much, but the Ileostomy saved my life & even if it was reversible, I wouldn’t go back. I still have leaks & blockages but that’s life & I still have my wife’s family & wonderful grandkids (& my sense of humor). I discovered Na’Scent a few years back & I would never use anything else, it stops dead all smells from your bag, whatever you eat lol. All in all, I’m a lucky man, I’m still alive & I have a wonderful family who support me.