For two long years Wendy Fraser battled with the debilitating symptoms of colitis.
23 June 2021
The inflammatory bowel disease, which attacks the colon, left her in constant pain and afraid to travel too far from a toilet. Thanks to Healthcare at Home she now has access to a new drug which has transformed her life.
When Wendy Fraser’s illness was at its worst everything from dog walks to the school run had to be planned around the nearest loos. At her lowest, she was afraid she would never be able to lead a normal life again. “I used to be scared to go out but, with three children, three dogs and a job to hold down, staying at home wasn’t an option,” she said. “I’d have to plan everything I did around whether there was a toilet nearby and my energy levels were so low that I’d usually need to nap in the afternoon in order to make sure that I could get through the evening, with all the demands that having a young family brings.”
After trial and error with a number of different treatments she was eventually prescribed a drug called adalimumab and within days things began to improve. “It really is no exaggeration to say it has been lifechanging,” said Wendy, 43, who now injects herself with the drug every fortnight.
“It sounds like a cliché, but it’s so true. I’m back to living a normal life now. For the first time in as long as I could remember I was able to eat and drink whatever I liked without having to think about it. For so many years I was restricting my diet, trying everything I could to see if it helped. It was absolutely amazing to not have to worry anymore.”
For Wendy, who lives in a village in the Scottish Highlands, Healthcare at Home have been key in helping her to continue to live a normal life. Her nearest hospital is over an hour’s drive away, so she opted to be trained, on how to inject herself, by a Healthcare at Home nurse rather than going to hospital clinics for regular infusions. “She was completely lovely and was there at the end of the phone for help and support too,” said Wendy.
Healthcare at Home also provides regular deliveries of the drug, which has to be kept refrigerated, and the drivers also collect all her used needles and dispose of them.
“I’m just so very grateful for what they do,” she said. “They’ve always been so accommodating and will drop the drugs off wherever I needed them, whether that was at my workplace or at home. I feel very lucky to have access to this service. It’s fabulous.”