'I'm singing and cheerleading after stoma op'

"I'm actually more myself, I'm more energetic, more able to do the things I love."

Georgie Leckey had feared the surgery needed to control her painful gastric condition - ulcerative colitis - would end her hobbies of dance, exercise and performance.

But the 26-year-old, from Arnold in Nottinghamshire, has found life with a stoma - a surgical opening in her intestines linked to an external bag - is easier than the pain of her condition.

Now she is posting on social media about singing and cheerleading to give others facing the operation encouragement and advice.

Leckey had been a performer since early childhood, but faced the increasingly painful symptoms of undiagnosed ulcerative colitis - where the body's immune system attacks the intestines - since the age of 11.

After struggling at college, the condition was finally diagnosed when she was 19, and she was put on medication - but this was only a temporary treatment.

A flare up last summer, when Leckey was 25, meant she was advised to have a stoma.

"I freaked out," she said. "My brain spiralled, I though I would have to give everything up.

"I was constantly crying on the way to surgery.

"Then I woke up, and there it was, I had to deal with it."

The stoma is linked to a bag which diverts digested food away from the lower bowel.

But despite worrying it might burst, slip or fall off, she was determined to get back to her passions - the first part of this process being to name the bag "Stan" - a family joke about potential child names.

Leckey said: "It's part of my body, but I can do anything a person without a bag can do, which is amazing.

"I was scared it was going to stop me because I didn't know anyone else that did have one.

"But I'm so lucky that I can do it all and even better, because I am not in pain.

"I'm actually more myself, I'm more energetic, more able to do the things I love, because I do not have that ulcerative colitis pain that I did have."

She is also determined to help others by posting images of her challenges and achievements online.

She said "[It is for] anyone in hospital going through being told they are to have stoma surgery.

"Hearing those words is scary, so having someone out there to look at, to share information, to know that it's going to be okay and you can still do everything.

"I know that when I was in hospital, I looked at people on social media and messaged them and found a great community.

"I want to be a person that people can reach out to if they need advice."

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