From emergency care to fundraising half marathon

HOLLY FLEET, a journalist from Epping in Essex, has run a half marathon in aid of the hospital she says has given her life back. Holly ran from St Thomas’ Hospital in central London to St George’s Hospital in Tooting and back again with her partner, Callum Campbell, to raise money for Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity.

After months of heavy bleeding and severe pain, Holly was initially diagnosed with proctitis (inflammation of the lowest part of the large bowel). But by November 2021, things worsened and she attended St Thomas’ emergency department. Surgery quickly followed to treat ulcerative colitis, a condition where the colon and rectum become inflamed and small ulcers develop, which can bleed and produce pus.

Holly, spent two months at St Thomas’, including a week in the intensive care unit.

When it was not possible to control the bleeding and pain with medication

Holly was offered a type of surgery called an ileostomy where the small bowel (small intestine) is diverted through an opening in the tummy (abdomen) known as a stoma.

Holly, who calls herself ‘Stoma Babe’ on Instagram to raise awareness of the condition, said: “I had the surgery done, but because I was really unwell before it, I had to have a blood transfusion. I was in the high dependency unit for about four days after the surgery and then I had to go back to intensive care. After that my vitamin levels started to balance out a bit more. I was in hospital until the end of January 2022.”

Holly is thankful for the care she received at St Thomas’, including from her surgeon, and the critical care and nursing teams who supported her recovery, who she says were “so helpful and so kind to me”.

Holly is raising awareness of ulcerative colitis, which the Crohn’s & Colitis UK charity says affects at least 1 in every 227 people in the UK. The condition can develop at any age, but is most often diagnosed in people between 15 and 25 years old.

One possible complication of ulcerative colitis can be an increased risk of developing bowel cancer.

Holly said: “If there is any sort of bleeding, you should never leave it. You should always go to the doctor, you should always push for an answer.

“What I want to get across, particularly to young people, is that you can still have a life with a stoma. You can still feel good about yourself. That’s why people have the stoma surgery to give them their lives back.”

Ashley Sartini, a gastrointestinal matron at Guy’s and St Thomas’, said: “Holly has come so far from the patient we met one year ago. A big thank you to her and to Callum for their fundraising efforts.”

To support Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity visit: https://gsttcharity.org.uk

SARAH JONES is an active organ donation campaigner and founder of Share Your Wishes, after having a kidney transplant at Guy’s in May 2006.

Sarah, 50, from Burgess Hill in Sussex, said: “It’s nearly 17 years since I received my kidney transplant. This was a kidney gifted to me by a courageous family, who agreed to organ donation.

THE LONDON School of Paediatrics recently published its Trainee Doctor End of Post Survey results, which show the neonatal unit at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, part of Guy’s and St Thomas’, is rated as the best in London for training experience.

The neonatal unit won the Paediatric Awards for Training Achievements (PAFTAs) award for best training unit in London. The national PAFTAs are held in partnership with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and recognise the very best in paediatric training in the country.

“I would urge everyone to talk to their loved ones about organ donation and their wishes for this.

“We have to make the conversation around organ donation the norm and as families will always be asked to support your loved one’s decision, it’s vital to leave them certain. People know that it can make a huge difference to the recipient, but it is also life-changing to their friends and family.”

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is a leading UK centre for renal transplantation and the treatment of kidney disease and it has the largest kidney transplant service in England. In the year to March 2022, there were 71 adult living donor kidney transplants at Guy’s and St Thomas’ – the most in the UK.

To find out more about organ donation, go to www.organdonation.nhs.uk