A man who spent 30 years without specialist follow-up after life-changing bowel surgery has told how he unexpectedly found support at St Mark’s Hospital in Park Royal.
David Davies was 21 when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of ulcerative colitis that left him seriously ill and led to the removal of his large intestine. After resisting the prospect of a permanent stoma, he underwent an ileo-anal pouch procedure in the mid-1980s.
The surgery creates an internal pouch from the small intestine, allowing waste to be passed naturally.
Mr Davies said he was determined to return to rugby and was back playing less than six months after his final operation, later featuring at both Twickenham and Cardiff Arms Park.
But despite rebuilding his life, he said he then went three decades without medical check-ups or access to any support network.
That changed during a later business trip to Park Royal, when he noticed a door marked “pouch nurses” at the LNWH-run St Mark’s Hospital.
He said: “I did a double take and knocked out of curiosity. It was a real revelation to me.”
St Mark’s Hospital is a specialist bowel hospital that helped pioneer pouch surgery and later supported the creation of the Red Lion Group, a patient-led charity for people who have undergone the procedure.
Mr Davies, now chair of the group, said it was important patients knew “they aren’t alone” and that others with shared experience were available to help.
