not to have any shame. i i can do anything. cheering gill castle was so severely injured in childbirth in october 2011 that she had to have a colostomy operation. she d suffered a fistula a hole between her rectum and hervagina and a fourth degree tear which couldn t be repaired. so she had to have her bowel diverted out onto her abdomen, creating a permanent stoma. knowing how hard it was to come to terms with this massive life change, she wanted to let others see it couldn t stop herfrom doing anything. when i first had my stoma surgery, i was told, no, you can t do that to a lot of things. but my attitude is, well, why not? nothing ventured, nothing gained. i don t want to dwell all the time on what happened in the past. i also want to show people what s possible moving forward. screams morning, everybody! here we are at ben nevis. and that s really important, to give people hope, i think. good morning, happy campers! and throughout the winter of 2020, gill did jus
i was, gosh, with a colostomy bag, swimming, enjoying life? i said, yes, i can. i ve learnt to be confident, not to have any shame. i i can do anything. cheering gill castle was so severely injured in childbirth in october 2011 that she had to have a colostomy operation. she d suffered a fistula a hole between her rectum and hervagina and a fourth degree tear which couldn t be repaired. so she had to have her bowel diverted out onto her abdomen, creating a permanent stoma. knowing how hard it was to come to terms with this massive life change, she wanted to let others see it couldn t stop herfrom doing anything. when i first had my stoma surgery, i was told, no, you can t do that to a lot of things. but my attitude is, well, why not? nothing ventured, nothing gained. shivers i don t want to dwell all the time on what happened in the past. i also want to show people what s possible moving forward. screams morning, everybody! here we are at ben nevis. and that s rea
And they ll be able to come up, open the box, yep. this one. we need this powder. we need this belt. and on their way they go. a lot better system - than the bags and boxes just heaped together. not everyone can make it to eldoret. so gill and her team made the long journey to siaya county to meet symprose and offer her care at home. and the issue that this lady has is one of acceptance, essentially. so she cannot accept her stoma. she can t accept that she needs one. the fact that she s always going to have to have one. gill first met symprose, who s in her 70s, at the hospital just over a year before. lovely to meet you. come. hi. how are you?
And his wife carolyne specifically to treat fistulas. they run theirfarm, around an hour outside of eldoret, to provide the patients with fresh food and milk to ensure they get the right nutrition. fistulas often affect the poorest women who can t access health care, so the operations are offered here for free. dr mabeya is one of only around ten surgeons in the whole of kenya who operates on fistulas. the operation is not paying because the patient cannot pay you. and i think there is a stigma from the doctor that the condition is difficult to treat, so there s a myriad of reasons why this condition has been left out. women who suffer from obstetric fistula, they lead a very miserable life. but when they come to gynocare, they get this life saving surgery. grace suffered a fistula in childbirth, then later
On my own, surrounded by donated stoma boxes, packing them off and sending them to this hospital in kenya, to these women i ve never met. you know, it sjust sort of gone boomph! and now, you have a charity. gill s channel swim raised funds for her charity chameleon buddies, which supports people with stomas in the uk and in kenya. gill chose the chameleon as it s adaptable much like the people she wants to help. around 13.5 million people worldwide are thought to live with a stoma, an often hidden condition which sometimes leads to embarrassment and shame. and in kenya, women fear being ostracised by their communities. the chameleon buddies came to the gynocare hospital in eldoret, in the west of kenya, for a week to hand over supplies of bags, help the women learn to manage their stomas and to support each other.