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Gill's Story

"I was told “you can’t do that with a stoma” so many times, I want to prove that you can do anything you want with a stoma!"

I was badly injured during my son Sam’s birth in October 2011 and was left with an infected 4th-degree tear, septic recto-vaginal fistula and a permanent colostomy (stoma).

I was mentally very unwell, with PTSD, post-natal depression, and severe anxiety, I lived 150 miles from my family and my husband worked offshore as a diver so was away for weeks/months at a time.

The fistula was septic for one year, so I was in and out of hospital getting it opened and drained under general anaesthetic. It used to take me 1hr 20mins to walk (stagger!) a walk which prior to the birth would take 20 minutes. I was incredibly debilitated and of course, carrying my pregnancy weight too.

I realised that I had to start focusing on what I could do, as opposed to what I couldn’t do (as I was medically pensioned out of the police force due to my physical and mental ill health).

Gill wearing her bikini, smiling, with her arms raised in the arm in joy whilst standing in the sea.

My main motivation is to show my son that his birth didn’t destroy my life and to prove that no matter what happens to him in his life, he will be able to overcome it.

I am also passionate about giving women who are injured in childbirth hope that it can get better, as there was no one telling me that during my own struggle.

I was told “you can’t do that with a stoma” so many times, I want to prove that you can do anything you want with a stoma!

Instead of merely accepting my stoma, I had to be grateful for it, and embrace everything I could do with it. 

I was incontinent for 5 days until I was fitted with my stoma in the week after the birth, and so I realised I should be grateful that the stoma had saved me from a life of housebound incontinence.

I am also passionate about giving women who are injured in childbirth hope that it can get better, as there was no one telling me that during my own struggle.

I decided to start trying anything and everything while I could, as you never know when that opportunity will be taken away from you.

I joined an indoor cycling class run by the local triathlon club, initially once a week, then twice, then 3 times. At the start, I could only stand up on my pedals for one pedal rotation – by the end of 6 months I was cycling for miles and miles outside, eventually cycling 100 miles in a day on 2 occasions with the local cycling club.

I entered my first ever sprint triathlon in 2015, in 2016 I won a sprint tri, and in 2017 I did a half ironman – facing my fear of the open water for the swim.  I went sky diving in 2020, completed my PADI diving course in 2021, and the 105-mile Rat Rat in Scotland in September 2019 (running, cycling and kayaking across East to West Scotland in 48 hours).

Gill wearing an orange swimming cap and smiling.

In May 2021 I walked the National 3 Peaks in 24 hours. I’ve battled to overcome my fear of the sea since 2017, become a skins swimmer (swim in winter in a swimming costume only), and have signed up to swim the English Channel solo in August 2023! I will be the first ostomate (person with a stoma) to swim it, and I will be facing my fear of swimming in the dark, in completely open water, on my own…for 21 miles.

In the last 5 years I’ve raised more than £20,000 for birth trauma/injury and stoma charities with my physical challenges, and this year I set up my own charity – Chameleon Buddies – which supports women to adapt to life after childbirth or stoma surgery, here and Kenya.  I am swimming the Channel for Chameleon Buddies.

I work 3 days a week, but I do run my charity in my spare time, in addition to solo parenting while my husband works away, for up to 2 months at a time.

I squeeze in swims and gym strength work before I leave for work or before my son is up, or when he is at clubs or school.

Being a parent while training can be pretty hard, as often your training schedule flips out of the window at the last second, due to school trips, or child illness, or childcare issues. Sam is pretty independent though.

Swimming is such an incredibly freeing activity in so many ways – and the open water is also free to use too! I feel powerful when I swim, especially in the sea, as I’ve had to overcome significant fear to get in there at all.

Swimming can be done alone, or with friends, in the cold, the warm, and no matter what mood you are in when you get in, when you get out your mind is clear, your heart full and I feel awesome. You can’t cheat with swimming either – for cycling you can buy a lighter faster bike, for running you can buy expensive trainers.

For swimming it is just you, your body and the water, such a pure and powerful activity, I think.

The pandemic massively disrupted my sea swimming as I couldn’t get in the sea, so I struggled mentally with that for the 2 months we were unable to travel the few miles to the coast by car. Instead, I cycled a lot, which I also love to do.

I did a bikini challenge over the winter of 2020-2021, wearing nothing but a bikini for 3 winter swims a week to raise money for the Birth Trauma Association – I ended up putting a bath in my garden and sitting in it so I could complete the challenge without the sea! Where there’s a will, there’s a way.