83: The Hirschsprung’s Hour with Tom Richard & guest actor and broadcaster Denise Welch83: The Hirschsprung’s Hour with Tom Richard & guest actor and broadcaster Denise Welch
UK Health Radio Podcast
Actor and broadcaster Denise Welch shares her son Louis’ Hirschsprung’s journey, from newborn crisis and life-saving surgery to adult life, while reflecting on her own postnatal depression and ongoing mental health. The conversation highlights the power of mother’s instinct, the importance of specialist care and the role of humour in coping with serious illness.
44:48•26 May 2026
Denise Welch on Mother’s Instinct, Hirschsprung’s and Holding It Together
Episode Overview
- Trusting a parent’s instinct can be critical, especially when a child’s symptoms don’t improve despite reassurances.
- Hirschsprung’s disease may not be visible on routine scans and often only becomes clear after birth when feeding and bowel problems arise.
- Specialist centres like Alder Hey and experienced surgeons can dramatically change outcomes for rare conditions.
- Serious postnatal depression can be a gateway to lifelong mental health issues, but modern support is far better than it was decades ago.
- Humour, openness and community connections help families cope with both chronic illness and ongoing mental health challenges.
“They said, if you hadn’t got him here, you probably would have lost him within two hours.”
Experience the emotional and inspiring tales of recovery and resilience as UK Health Radio’s Hirschsprung’s Hour steps into family territory with actor, writer and broadcaster Denise Welch. Talking with host Tom Richard, Denise shares her son Louis’ Hirschsprung’s story from a mother’s-eye view, mixing medical detail, dark humour and sheer relief.
She talks frankly about her own severe postnatal depression after her first son, Matty, and how that trauma shaped her fears when she fell pregnant again in her early forties.
Determined to “have a completely different birth”, she chose an elective caesarean, felt everything was fine… and then watched newborn Louis refuse to feed, fail to poo and suddenly “projectile vomit this electric green vomit across the room, like The Exorcist.” From there, you’ll hear a tense journey through misdiagnoses, lumbar punctures, and finally a Hirschsprung’s diagnosis at Alder Hey Hospital, where surgeons removed nine inches of Louis’ bowel.
Denise describes the shock of going from no nappies to “25 a day”, the terror of a later emergency where she was told, “if you hadn’t got him here, you probably would have lost him within two hours,” and the deep gratitude she still feels for surgeon Mr Graham Lamont and the Alder Hey team.
Alongside the medical story, Denise keeps things grounded and relatable: mother’s instinct, juggling an older child’s needs, her ongoing mental health struggles, and the gallows humour of a son who jokes, “how can you say that to a Hirschsprung child?” when he farts in public. This episode will speak to parents of children with Hirschsprung’s, Crohn’s and other gut conditions, as well as anyone balancing their own mental health with caring for a family.
It’s raw, warm and often very funny – a reminder that serious illness and ordinary life tend to sit side by side. Whose instincts in your life do you trust when everything feels uncertain?
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