Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats’ public health spokesperson, said she was once told she had “just four days to live” as she shared her experiences of Crohn’s disease.
Speaking at the party’s autumn congress today, she told how she was “rushed to hospital” 12 years ago and later “cried” when faced with the prospect of having to stop working.
“A few weeks later I was told I had just four days left to live without major surgery,” she told delegates in Brighton.
‘I weighed only 55 kilos and my eyesight was deteriorating.’
She recounted her experiences of her arms becoming “black and blue” and her being “fed only through a feeding tube.”
Liberal Democrats health spokesperson Daisy Cooper shared her experiences with Crohn’s disease
“But it wasn’t the prospect of major surgery that upset me, it was what was said afterwards,” Cooper said.
‘“Even if you survive Daisy, even if you recover, you will probably never work again. Your Crohn’s is so aggressive, you can only work one day a week at most.”’
According to Crohn’s and Colitis UK, Crohn’s disease “starts when your immune system attacks your gut. This causes painful ulcers and inflammation that can occur anywhere in your gut, from your mouth to your bum.”
Around half a million Britons suffer from Crohn’s disease, which causes excruciating pain, diarrhoea, exhaustion and extreme weight loss. Around a third of patients with the condition, which inflames the lining of the gut, will need surgery.
Crohn’s disease is an incurable condition in which parts of the digestive system become inflamed.
Doctors aren’t sure what causes it, but it’s thought to be related to an overactive immune system: cells that should attack harmful toxins mistakenly destroy healthy tissue in the gut.
Around half a million Britons suffer from Crohn’s disease, which causes severe pain, diarrhoea, exhaustion and extreme weight loss (Stock photo)
Speaking at the party’s autumn conference today, she told how she was “rushed to hospital” 12 years ago and later “cried” when faced with the prospect of having to give up her job.
Ms Cooper, the MP for St Albans and the party’s vice-chairman, told the conference she had been told she was likely to need further operations and was also given an information pack about the benefits she may be entitled to.
She said she was lying in her hospital bed and “crying.”
“I cried and cried and cried for 17 hours. It felt like my world had fallen apart. As a campaigner, I have always found my meaning and purpose in my work,” she said.
‘Like millions of people, the NHS not only saved my life, but the people who made our NHS what it is, gave me my life back.’
Later in her speech, Cooper told Labour that if the government did not show “the right level of ambition” on health, the Lib Dems would “have their feet under fire”.
In her speech, Ms Cooper said she had a “message for the Labour government”.
In a speech to Health Minister Wes Streeting, she said: “Take our ideas or present your own ideas, and if we support them, we will support them.”
“But if we don’t see the right level of ambition or urgency, we will hold you accountable.”