‘I no longer feel ashamed’
Sarah Smith, 32, lives in Leicester with her wife Carly, 32, and raises awareness for ileostomy bags on Instagram @positively_stella.
At just 16, in 2006, I was diagnosed with incurable inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis. For 13 years, I tried every available medication to help manage the condition but eventually doctors decided I needed an ileostomy, where the small bowel is diverted through an opening in the tummy and a stoma bag is fitted to collect waste. In April 2019, I had the surgery.
In the beginning, I
