A MUM was forced to undergo 12-hour surgery to reconstruct her bowels and vagina using pig skin after doctors dismissed her cancer symptoms for years.
Claire Boulton underwent the surgery last week (January 16) following a shock bowel cancer diagnosis on her wedding day in April 2019.
The huge operation was to completely remove her bowel, scaffold her vagina, re-site her stoma and give her a tummy tuck.
After recently losing eight stone, the former carer suffers “excruciating” daily pain due to her “saggy skin” dragging her stoma bag down.
The 47-year-old had her vagina attached to her spine with pig skin to prevent prolapse – when the vagina slips down from its usual position, potentially out the opening.
Now, Claire hopes her “great sex life” with husband Matthew Boulton, 54, will be protected.
While the operation carried risks, Claire remains “really positive” and believes the surgery will give her a “better life” going forwards.
Speaking prior to the operation, Claire, who lives in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, said: “I don’t think there’s many other people in the world that have actually had this full operation.
“I’m having the rest of the bowel removed and my bottom sewn up.
“Because of my age, I’ve got a great sex life with my husband and I’m not ready to lose it.
“They’ve agreed that they’re going to do a scaffolding of my vagina and attach my vagina to my spine with pig skin to prevent a prolapse.
“Normally you’d wait until you get a prolapse but because I’m not really able to have more surgeries after this, they’re doing everything in one.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”NHS rolls out bowel cancer screening to 50 and 52-year-olds after Dame Debs’ campaigning ” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6367039528112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“If my vagina prolapsed they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, I’d just have to lose it.
“Even now after I’ve had this operation I will have a zero risk of bowel cancer because there will be no bowel or rectum in my body.
“I will have a zero risk of ovarian or womb cancer, I will have a small chance of stomach cancer.”
Claire’s health battles over the years
Claire was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2009, which is a chronic condition spreading pain all over her body, and it caused mobility issues and rapid weight gain.
However, after successfully losing eight stone between 2019 and 2024 she has been left with “saggy skin” that causes her “excruciating” pain.
Claire said: “Currently because of the saggy skin that’s there, it means it drags the weight of the [stoma] bag down which may or may not have added to me getting the hernia.
“With the hernia it just means that every step I take it’s like the wobble of the belly and the movement of everything is just excruciating.
“Anything I’m doing, even lying in bed at night, if I lie on my side, the weight of my skin pulls the bag and the hernia and then it will add to leakage and things.
“By having the tummy tuck it’s going to take away all that excess skin that’s possibly causing some problems now but will also help to prevent those problems going forward once we have the new stoma without the hernia.
[quote credit=”Claire Boulton”]I’m just wanting to have a bit of a better life. Anything has got to be better than the way it’s been[/quote]“I am hoping it means I can start being more physical again. I’m hoping it means I can walk further distances. Maybe start to get a little bit of me back.”
Claire continued: “I just want to not be in pain all the time. For the last year and a half I’ve been in pain every evening and have to take serious pain killers just to be able to get any sleep at night due to the pain.
“I’m just wanting to have a bit of a better life. Anything has got to be better than the way it’s been. I just want to be able to enjoy my children. I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot.”
The mum-of-two revealed the surgery carried a two per cent risk of death and is safer than having multiple different surgeries.
Claire and Matthew, who met in a nightclub on Claire’s 22nd birthday, have grown “stronger” through the ordeal and are still able to enjoy married life.
Claire said: “Everything in our life has been a challenge. And you grow stronger, and then this happened and it was like ‘when am I going to get a break’.
“My husband has just been amazing. He is my rock. Nothing phases him. He’s woken up covered in s**t [because of the stoma bag] and been like, ‘never mind’. I don’t know how many people could do that. It’s all the little things.
“The day he married me; I was at the heaviest weight I’ve ever been in my whole life. He married me at the worst point in my life.
“I’d just found out I had cancer, I was the fattest I’d ever been and he chose after all those years of being with me, to marry me. I can’t even put that into words how that felt that day.”
As of today (January 14) the NHS has expanded its bowel cancer screening programme to those aged 50 in England.
People aged 50 and 52 will now automatically receive a home test kit every two years by post when they become eligible, as part of plans to offer everyone 50-74 the screening test.
The test, called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), looks for blood in a sample of your poo – a symptom of bowel cancer.
You collect the sample at home and send it by post to be tested.
Dame Deborah James, known as Bowelbabe was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in 2016 when she was 35 years old.
Before she lost her battle to cancer in 2022, she campaigned for greater awareness of the disease and encouraged people to check for signs and symptoms.
She also campaigned for the age threshold for the NHS bowel cancer screening programme to be lowered from the age of 60 to 50 years.
You’ll usually get the results of your bowel cancer screening home test (FIT kit) within 2 weeks after sending your poo sample in a letter sent to your home address.
Source: NHS