81: The Hirschsprung’s Hour with Tom Richard - Episode 81

81: The Hirschsprung’s Hour with Tom Richard - Episode 81

Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of medical uncertainty and parental grit. This UK Health Radio podcast episode from The Hirschsprung’s Hour with Tom Richard focuses on Lauren and Kieran Jewell as they recount their three-year-old son Freddie’s journey with Hirschsprung’s disease. From the early days of green-coloured sick, feeding issues and a rock-hard tummy, through NICU, suspected twisted bowel and sepsis, Freddie’s story shows just how confusing those first days can be.

The biopsy eventually confirmed Hirschsprung’s, yet staff remained baffled because, as Lauren explains, "he was pooing normally" and seeming to cope with daily bowel washouts. The episode tracks Freddie’s three surgeries, including open surgery as a newborn and later operations that resulted in an unexpected stoma and eventually a total colectomy with a loop ileostomy.

Lauren and Kieran talk honestly about the shock of hearing "he’s got a stoma", the long, anxious hours waiting while he was in theatre, and how they gradually "just become desensitised to it" to protect both themselves and their little boy. Stoma care and emotional adjustment are central here. A fellow parent on the ward calmly showing them her son’s stoma was a turning point, and Lauren credits social media groups and online communities with helping her feel less isolated.

You’ll also hear how mum instinct led to an emergency trip to A&E and a diagnosis of enterocolitis, and how the family now genuinely value Freddie’s stoma: "We absolutely love it. It gives him the life he has now." They share their hopes that he grows up confident in his body, able to swim, play and do whatever he wants, with the option one day to decide for himself about future surgery.

If you’re caring for a child with Hirschsprung’s or a stoma, this candid conversation may be exactly the reassurance you need today.