Girl, 14, says stoma bag 'saved my life'

Imogen was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in April 2023

A 14-year-old girl has said getting a stoma saved her life and was "the best thing I ever did".

Imogen from Basingstoke, Hampshire, underwent a subtotal colectomy - where most of the colon is removed - in March, less than a year after being diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

A recent study by Southampton Children's Hospital (SCH) found the number of children and young adults being diagnosed with IBD has more than doubled in the last 10 years.

Consultant paediatric gastroenterologist Dr James Ashton said removing part of the bowel is a last resort, but for Imogen it had been "transformational".

Imogen's symptoms were initially put down to anxiety, but after losing almost three stone and being admitted to hospital, she was diagnosed with IBD in April 2023.

She was tried on various medications and infusions, but she said it "got to the point where the pain made me not want to wake up" and eventually she had to have a subtotal colectomy.

"I woke up from the surgery, and the pain - it was just completely gone," she said.

"It felt like a miracle."

Imogen said her stoma bag had saved her life

IBD refers to a range of conditions involving chronic inflammation of tissues in the digestive tract, but the main types are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

The study by SCH, which used data from five NHS sites including Oxford, Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff, found all sites had seen a sustained increase in diagnosis of IBD in children since 2013.

Dr Ashton said the findings were "really important" and that there was likely to be "multiple" factors behind the increase, including dietary factors such as an increase in highly processed foods.

"We can't infer causation from that, but its really important to note that as a possible trigger," he said.

Imogen said she sometimes gets "comments" about her stoma bag, but she ignores them

Dr Ashton said the findings from the study would aid understanding of the disease, something he hoped would reduce the need for colectomies.

But for Imogen, the surgery "gave me my life back".

"I think my bag's beautiful," she said.

"I couldn't even come out of my room before because I felt that ill... now I can go anywhere. I can do anything."