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Rach's Blogs

International day of persons with a disability - 3rd December 2021 This day was first introduced by the UN in 1992 to protect the wellbeing of individuals with disabilities and their human rights. This year's theme is 'Not All Disabilities Are Visible’ which teams with the work I have done in the last 2 years with Pelican and Respond Healthcare. Their Be The Change Campaign and Cardiff City Centre’s signage change on toilet facilities, meant not just a wheel chair logo but also people who appear to have nothing wrong being included.

Sharing our stories and opening up the conversation is the best way I know how to spread awareness. With being the only female in my little family I feel it important to take this opportunity to appreciate my three boys. Being a mother and step mother to boys comes with its own sense of responsibility to ensure they grow into respectful, courteous and kind men who can lead happy fulfilling lives, and know that we as parents will be there to support them in any way possible. 

Stress can be different for each person. What makes you stressed might not necessarily make the person next to you stressed the same way. For me, I have always been a bit of a stress head - sorry Husband! I often wonder whether it’s because of living with a chronic illness and the stress it creates physically which over spills into the mind.

Podcasts are undoubtably a brilliant form of self care. Putting those headphones in and escaping from the outside world, you can curate what you need in that moment. I listen mostly when I am doing something arduous like making dinner, ironing or running a long distance. In this blog I am sharing some of my favourites, covering a varied spectrum of topics.

October was a very special time for me as I entered my first 10K race in Cardiff, South Wales. Whatever possessed me to do it you ask? How many of you who are reading this with a chronic illness have found they can’t be as active as they once were? For me it was like a light switch was flicked and I couldn’t do anything without being in pain anymore. Its debilitating, demoralising and can lead you down a dark path mentally with the mental health benefits you loose over night. My health journey has been quite the fair ground ride.

It feels like it was only yesterday that my Instagram feed was glittered with beautiful photos of ostomates across the world, showing what World Ostomy Day means to them. For most of us who use the platform to document their journey living with an ostomy, its a daily occurrence, yet what is it about World Ostomy Day that makes it that much more special?

Recycling is something a lot of us do on autopilot with it being part of everyday life. Not one to show my age, but I can remember during my childhood having no recycling boxes outside the house and never seeing adverts or media circulated regarding the climate crisis. Thankfully one of the advantages of our children’s generation, is that they are made much more aware and have greater understanding from a young age, giving them the tools and education to actively be a part of tackling it. 

I have spoken a lot about how following social media pages of ostomates leading up to my surgery last Summer really helped me feel prepared for life with a stoma bag. For all the negativity that social media use is spoken of, the positives have more than outweighed them for myself. I started my account to share life as a mum with a baby ostomate, then not having a stoma personally. I used the platforms to connect with other parents in the same position, and look for practical advice where life experience from others provided answers that the medical world could not. Life experience is like a precious diamond. A small call for advice on a closed parents group on...

I’m back again guys following a lovely holiday with my family! We have always stayed in the UK since we had our baby ostomate now 5 years old, so current circumstances haven’t made any difference to us choosing to visit the beautiful Exmouth in Devon. Despite a few wet days at the start, parts of the UK entered a heatwave with temperatures entering late 20s/early 30s. 

In an ideal world you would leave hospital with your baby (poorly or not), and the leaflets fall into your lap about support whether it be practical, emotional or financial. For me a lot of what I am about to share had to be found as I went along. Unfortunately there are disadvantages according to where you live in the UK, as to what access you have to some of them. That is why I felt it so important to keep the conversation going in the hope others will find out this information much quicker than I did.