Society: The Gutless Warrior

SOCIETY leesha Verma A A is the Gutless Warrior – a voice for people with ostomy-related illnesses and inflammatory bowel disease. Her Instagram and Facebook pages tell of her experience of being diagnosed with colitis at the age of 17. Life for the alumna, a Health Studies and Social Work graduate who hails from Wolverhampton, changed irrevocably on New Year’s Eve 2014, when she was just 18 and studying for her A-levels. Instead of heading out with friends, she was rushed to a hospital operating theatre to undergo an emergency ileostomy, which left her with a stoma bag. “I had to take a year out as I was so poorly I couldn’t go to school,” she said. “When I came to the University, I didn’t tell anyone about the stoma because I was still trying to accept it myself and felt very conscious about it. As a consequence, I found my first year really hard.” It was during her first year of studies that Aleesha launched her Gutless Warrior Facebook and Instagram pages as a way of making sense of what she had experienced and to be a soundboard for anyone else needing someone to talk to who was going through the same.

THE THE GUTLESS GUTLESS WARRIOR WARRIOR

–speaking up for Crohn’s and colitis sufferers

“I felt I didn’t have anyone I could relate to, so I wanted to be that voice for other people through my blog,” she said.

However, Aleesha suffered another setback as she completed her first year, having to have a permanent ileostomy in June 2016.

“It took me back to square one, but I felt mentally stronger,” she said. “My family asked me to take another year out, but I was determined not to. I realised that the stoma bag had given me my quality of life back and that helped me to change my mindset and change my attitude towards my bag, which is now permanent.”

Now working in the NHS, Aleesha said the stoma is so much part of her life that she named it Rosie and celebrates its “birthday” every year with cake and balloons. “The bag is part of me and it certainly doesn’t stop me doing what I want to do,” she added.

Aleesha is also a mentor at Wolverhampton New Cross Hospital, where she buddies younger patients who have undergone ileostomies and similar procedures, and also raises money for the charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK.

“The last thing I want to do is feel sorry for myself,” she said. “I would have benefitted if I’d have spoken to someone like me after I’d had my first operation. I know my bag has affected every aspect of life my, but it has also saved my life. I feel like I’ve been given a second chance.”

In April, a film that Aleesha was involved with won an award for its impact. The It Takes Guts campaign scooped the People’s Choice Award in the Charity Film Awards, which celebrates films that engage supporters and encourage donations for good causes. The two-minute animated film was created by Crohn’s and Colitis UK.

Aleesha said: “I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the It Takes Guts campaign and definitely enjoyed being turned into a cartoon. I am so pleased we won the People’s Choice Award for this incredible animation, which had the message that it takes guts to talk about Crohn’s and colitis.”