JAMES Graysmark is very happy to talk about his ulcerative colitis – he has suffered with it for the best part of 12 years.

But that wasn’t always the case. When the symptoms first began appearing he tried to ignore them and would not discuss them with anyone – let alone his GP.

James, now aged 33 and living in Warndon Villages in Worcester with his wife Jo and their two young sons was young, physically fit and didn’t want to acknowledge that it could be something serious.

He first became aware something was wrong when he saw a small amount of blood in the toilet after a bowel movement.

“I put it down to something I had eaten and I did not think anything of it. Being a young lad and doing a lot of sport, I was physically quite fit and I just brushed it off.

“I was also a bit embarrassed to talk about it and I ignored the symptoms. It was really stupid,” he admits.

James started getting pain in his abdomen but put it down to doing lots of sport and training like sit ups.

He met his wife in 2006 when they were both doing support roles with the RAF and based in Northumberland.

James’s symptoms got progressively worse but, as a “typical young bloke”, he did not go and see anyone about it.

Without James’s knowledge, Jo made an appointment for him to see a doctor. “She was pretty worried,” he said. “But I kept brushing it off.”

He attended the appointment to appease her, he revealed, and after an examination the doctor came up with an initial diagnosis of internal haemorrhoids.

But when it did not improve, James returned to the doctor and was referred to a gastroenterology specialist who diagnosed colitis.

It is a long-term condition where the colon and rectum become inflamed and small ulcers, which can bleed and produce pus, can develop on the lining of the colon.

It is thought to be an autoimmune disease where the body’s defence system attacks healthy tissue.

The symptoms can include recurring diarrhoea, abdominal pain, extreme tiredness, loss of appetite and weight loss, painful and swollen joints, mouth ulcers, patches of painful skin, irritated eyes, fever, high or irregular heart beat and shortness of breath.

James was given drugs to suppress his immune system attacking his body and steroids to strengthen him.

“I was fine for eight or nine months but it flared up so they changed my drugs.”

He suffered kidney failure due to the new drugs and ended up in hospital. New drugs were prescribed but James found the side effects terrible – he ended up with a string of viruses due to the suppression of his immune system.

James and his family moved to Worcester in 2012 after leaving the RAF and felt fine for about a year until he had another flare-up.

“I had stomach pain and felt weak and extremely tired. I was so weak I had to sit down after having a shower.

"During the worst times I was going to the toilet up to 40 times a day. I was not bed-bound but I was certainly sofa-bound.

“I was having to have sleeps in the day and I could not play with the kids,” said James, who admitted it also affected his mood very badly and at times he felt really down.

“Not being able to play with the kids is the worst thing ever.”

In December 2013, after seeing his consultant, James was admitted to Worcestershire Royal Hospital for emergency surgery.

They removed the vast majority of is large intestine and gave him an ileostomy to divert the small intestine through a stoma – an opening in the abdomen – and the waste from the gut into a bag.

“After the first operation I was still losing a bit of blood and I reported back to the consultant. I had the option of having the rest of the bowel out or having an ileostomy reversal.

“I was used to having the bag and I was comfortable with it. My wife was comfortable with it too. My conclusion was that if the bowel was diseased now it would be diseased after a reversal.”

James had a second operation last month and the entire large intestine has been removed. The ileostomy is now permanent.

“I feel brilliant and as strong as an ox. I was always tired before. Four or five days after the operation my wife commented that I looked 10 years younger.”

James, who works as a civil enforcement officer for Worcester City Council, said he was hoping to return to work within a day or two.

“There were a lot of times when I did not know what was going to happen to me. I had just got married, my first son was born in 2011 and I should have been enjoying my life but I could not. I could not do anything really.”

He said the NHS treatment in Northumberland and Worcester was first class. “Now I am not on any medication at all. Having the operations have really given me my life back.

“I would advise anyone who sees blood in the toilet bowl to get it checked out. Do not be embarrassed. It is not worth losing five or six years of your life.

“I was almost dragged to the doctor kicking and screaming by my wife and thank God she did. I do not think I would be around now if she had not done what she did.

“If it accelerates, you do not have that long if it is not sorted. It can kill you. The longer you have it, the greater the risk of it developing into bowel cancer.

“Any sign of blood or feeling of discomfort then go and see your GP. I cannot emphasis that enough. Even if it is nothing, it is better to do that than go through what I’ve been through.”

James said he had a lot of help from the Purple Wings charity http://www.purplewingscharity.com which aims to help people with bowel disease.

More information about ulcerative colitis is available on the NHS website http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ulcerative-colitis/Pages/Introduction.aspx and at Crohns & Colitis UK charity website https://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk/about-inflammatory-bowel-disease/ulcerative-colitis