NewsColony

I ended up with a stoma after giving birth to my first child — but it hasn’t held me back NewsColony “Crossing the finish line of the half-ironman race, after a gruelling 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and 13.2-mile run, I felt elated and so proud of what my body had achieved. Six years earlier, in October 2011, I gave birth to my son Sam at 34 weeks. During the traumatic forceps delivery, I suffered a fourth-degree tear extending into my rectum. 4 Gillian says all her hopes and dreams about motherhood had been taken away Credit: Gillian Castle I didn’t realise at the time, but the consultant then incorrectly repaired the tear twice, and within days I had become incontinent and developed a serious infection. Five days after Sam’s birth, I had a colostomy – surgery to create an opening for my bowel in my abdominal wall – to divert faeces away from the infected area, but I was assured it was only temporary. Exhausted, in pain and scared, I remember waking up after my operati...