A fit and healthy mum who was given just 24 hours to live was saved by a colostomy bag.
Victoria Danson worked 60 hours a week at two jobs when she was admitted to hospital with severe abdominal pains.
The 33-year-old, from Chorley, started to feel unwell but put it down to her busy lifestyle, which included working as a hairdresser and going out on weekends with her friends.
She visited a GP who told her she had IBS, but Victoria thought it was something worse, LancashireLive reports.
After a tiring 12 months with countless visits to the doctors, the mum-of-one was given a colonoscopy which revealed she had Crohn's disease.
She said: "At that point, I felt like because it we were talking about bowels and poo, at a young age, it's not something you speak to people about, so I felt like I was on my own with it really. I was really struggling."
"I had lots of different medications and with that comes unwanted side effects, so I just tried to live my life with it and not really knowing anybody else who was living with it."
Five years after her diagnosis, at 24-years-old, Victoria underwent emergency life saving surgery at Royal Preston Hospital.
Prior to the operation she suspected the pain she was feeling was something else, and it turned out to be a small abcess on her bowel.
It meant Victoria needed 18 inches of her small bowel removed.
"The surgeon came around and took my hand and he went, 'I don't know how you were managing to live. It's an absolute mess in there'," Victoria explained.
"He said I had an abscess, but I also had abdominal sepsis, but they didn't know this before they cut me up. He was like, honestly, another 24 hours and you would not have made it, we made the best decision."
Not only did she have to undergo this operation, but Victoria woke up with a stoma and a colostomy bag.
She added: "My life massively changed. At first, it was more the mental aspect of accepting the bag, but actually, the quality of life that it has given me since has really helped me accept that bag.
"Before, I was on the toilet like 15 or 20 times a day, the fatigue, the anxiety of always needing the toilet and when I had the surgery, I actually thought about how many people must be in my position, where they feel like they can't speak to anybody about it, they don't know anybody. It's really isolating and it really affects your mental health."
Victoria has revealed she wants to start a support group for people on a similar journey to her.
In 2017, Victoria started her journey in raising awareness of IBD and Crohn's, using her spare time, alongside hairdressing and parenting her young son, Louis, to support others in similar situations to herself.
People attend Victoria's group sessions and inform her that they've grown in confidence as a result and can now live a better life.
Victoria said: "I think because it's an invisible illness, people find it hard to understand just how it can make you feel on the inside.
"Obviously it's not as bad as it was before, but there's things I've had to do. I've had to change my whole diet to be able to function really, if I eat something I know I shouldn't it's just not even worth it.
"I was in hospital only a couple of weeks ago, it can just get you like that. And then I'm back out and I'm back into the real world and I'm busy and then, suddenly I need a hospital admission again."
As well as raising awareness on the national days, Victoria works hard all year round to educate others on the conditions.
