Over 200,000 people in the UK are living with a stoma bag - a small, waterproof pouch used to collect waste from the body. For many, adjusting to a colostomy can be extremely difficult at first, taking a toll on their mental and physical health.
The surgery can impact a person's self-confidence, as well as their intimate relationships due to the stigma surrounding stomas and pooing into a bag.
Lucy Jane, a 24-year-old local influencer from Rochdale, has a bowel disease called Ulcerative Colitis. This is a long-term condition where the colon and rectum become inflamed, and small ulcers can develop on the colon's lining, which can bleed.
READ MORE: 'I can't even have a kebab without worrying about days of pain afterwards'
When Lucy was 17, she began experiencing symptoms such as extreme fatigue, which at first she chalked down to being stressed out while studying for her A-levels.
But when she noticed blood in her stools, Lucy knew something was wrong.
“I'd sleep for days and I'd still be exhausted - that was the first symptom I noticed. I've always been such a get up and go person, so it was just weird that that was happening," she told the Manchester Evening News.
“As a few weeks went by, I noticed blood in my stool when I was going to the toilet. Luckily my family has always been like ‘if you notice any changes tell us,’ because my nana actually went through the same thing that I did but in the 60s.
“My mum has always been aware of it, saying if something goes wrong, make sure to tell us because she knows that a lot of people feel embarrassed, or they don't want to talk about it.”
Knowing what to look out for, Lucy's mum was quick to march her daughter to the doctors as soon as she told her what she'd seen.
Initially, the then teenager was diagnosed with piles however, following a colonoscopy it was discovered that she had Colitis.
Doctors described Lucy “a puzzle” as her body failed to go into remission despite trying several treatments. Lucy says she was “consumed by illness” and it “took control” of everything in her life.
At 19-years of age, she made the life-changing decision to undergo a colostomy after spending weeks unable to get out of bed, saying she 'did not have it in her' to try more treatments.
“The idea of surgery was something that I'd kind of got myself to be a bit familiar with. I used Instagram to reach out to girls that had gone through the same thing and saw them living their best lives," she added.
“I wrote down like a list of positives and negatives of if I had the stoma and I literally had a full page of positives. The negatives were, I'm gonna look different for everyone else. I'm gonna have a bag attached to my body, which at the end of the day is really not that negative.
“I got myself into such a mindset of 'This is gonna give me my life back.’”
Lucy, who shares fashion content on her social media channels, was nervous at first that she was going to have to start changing what she wears because of her stoma bag.
However, the fashionista refused to let her illness impact her life and now proudly shows off her stoma to her thousands of followers, with hopes that other young people who have had a colostomy will be inspired to feel comfortable not to hide it.
“When people message me like, ‘Oh, you've given me so much confidence to go out there and wear something different,’ it just makes me so happy because it shouldn't stop you from doing anything, having a stoma.
“The only thing that changes is I poo in a bag - that’s it.
“Life’s too short… I think the more people see it, the more normal it becomes and that's always been my mindset of like if I can be confident about it then nobody's gonna put me down for that.”
Lucy is now using the platform to help raise awareness of the condition.
Earlier this month she took part in a ‘dirty protest’ where campaigners hit the streets of Manchester dressed as poo and loo roll, and encouraged people to check their stools as part of Bowel Cancer Awareness Month.
“I live my life with a stoma bag and have done for the past four years and checking my poo could’ve saved my life," she told the MEN.
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