I found little information on the illness during my hospital stays, but met lots of other patients who had questions about living with Crohn’s so, with the help of family and friends, I started the Leeds & District branch of what was then the National Association for Colitis & Crohn’s Disease in 1983.

Crohn’s has affected every aspect of my life. I was too ill to have children and I feel my career would have taken a different path had I not been so ill. If only the treatments that are available now were around in the 1970s! Within two months of starting on infliximab, I felt like a different person. I was later moved onto adalimumab and have been on that for years. Although the scarring from my surgery causes me issues, my Crohn’s is now pretty much under control.