Tag Archive for: media

Nowt So Strange As Folk – BBC Sheffield

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So I am a few weeks into my new role as radio presenter on BBC Radio Sheffield, have you heard the show yet?

You can find us at Nowt So Strange As Folk – a modern family life show where we talk about everything from parenting to dating, local community groups to disability and so much more with myself and the lovely Leesh, my amazing co-host.  It’s all about relaxed laid back chat, lots of laughs, amazing guests and a sprinkling of music to fill your evening.

You can hear us between 7 and 9pm every Wednesday (apart from the odd week when football is on) and I would love to hear what you think!

 

Sam Cleasby and Leesh Desouzay Nowt so strange as folk on bbc radio sheffield

I am absolutely LOVING it, I have been a guest on radio shows for years now, so I knew I could chat on air but presenting is a whole different ball game! I was nervous about the technical side as well as the skills of presenting live on air, interviewing guests, getting in and out of links etc but BBC Sheffield have totally take us under their wing and given us so much support, training and encouragement.  Our amazing producer Chloe has looked after us and guided us into having the confidence to be ourselves, she is awesome, and producer David has been a rock!

Sam and Leesh bbc radio sheffield

I think it’s really brave of BBC Sheffield to try something so new, each evening we have new talent, presenters who have been given an opportunity to do something different. Monday nights is Monday Night Social – group chat with some brilliant presenters and guests including our wonderful Lord Mayor Magid Magid.  Tuesday is New Traditions with Gregg Russell – a new look at folk music from around the world. Throwback Thursday with Christian Carlisle is next sharing brilliant music and talking to musicians and artists. And then Hello Friday welcomes in the weekend with music and fun.

Sam Cleasby bbc radio presenter

You can find Nowt So Strange As Folk on twitter and instagram – do get in touch and let us know what you think of the show, we love hearing your messages and will read out as many as possible!

Find all our show on the iplayer here and listen live Wednesdays 7-9pm!

 

Sam x

 

Matron, Medicine and Me – 70 years of the NHS

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I was thrilled to be interviewed for the BBC’s Matron, Medicine and Me which was aired recently.  The episode I was on was hosted by Fern Britton who went back to the hospital that saved her life from sepsis a few years ago, there were lots of amazing stories shared about the NHS and if you’d like to watch it again, head over to the iplayer here.

You can see my interview here.

 

Love Sam xx

Happy 5th Birthday SoBadAss!!

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I can’t believe it has been five whole years since my little blog came to life and I am so proud of all I have been able to do in this time.  I began the blog as a diary for myself, a cathartic space for me to blurt out all that was going on in my life, I thought that perhaps my sister and friends may read it, but I never thought I would be sat here with over 3 million views!!

In 2013, I started with a flare up that just wouldn’t shift and for the first time, the options of surgery were mentioned. I started to google and though I found lots of medical information, I couldn’t find any UK based bloggers who were talking about Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Ulcerative Colitis or life with an ostomy bag.  There was one amazing American blogger called Inflamed and Untamed and her blog normalised this brand new life that I was facing, but there was a lot that didn’t feel very relevant to me as a Brit.

sam cleasby ileostomy colostomy bag blogger body positive so bad ass

And so So Bad Ass came to life.  A place for people to read about my experiences in the hope that they wouldn’t feel quite so alone if they were in a similar situation.

Five years, over 3 million views, TV appearances, magazine and newspaper articles, radio shows and talks all over the world, I can’t believe that I have been honoured enough to take the mantle and to become the poo lady!! I am so happy to have had such amazing opportunities and all of them came from this little part of the internet.

My first ever post on here was this picture… I am really pleased that my first message is still my strongest message, that kindness is at the root of all good things and that we all need to look after each other a lot more.

ibd ulcerative colitis and crohns

My first proper personal post was called Why Im choosing to have my bowel removed, a post about the options I was facing and my (probably somewhat naive) feelings about it all. Little did I know that this planned conversation with my consultant would never happen as within weeks, my flare up landed me in hospital for a week on IV steroids trying to relieve the symptoms and then I would face emergency surgery to remove my colon and get my first stoma, spend time in the HDU and then come to terms with the reality of life with an ostomy!

Five years and seven operations later, I have shared my story with you all, the highs and lows, the good times and the terribly shitty ones and I want to thank every one of you who reads, shares, likes and comments on this blog and my social media.  I can’t explain how much it means.

I get hundreds of messages every month and I do my best to reply to each and every one, to know that people trust me with their stories and want to share with me means everything.  To know that people all over the world think of me and send me their love brings me strength every time.  I just can’t thank you all enough.

sam cleasby ulcerative colitis ibd ileostomy surgery

From then…

Sam Cleasby surgery blogger

To now…

Life has changed so much in this time, highlights have been going on This Morning with Holly and Phil, going viral with the open letter, going on BBC breakfast, TWICE, going to the houses of parliament, doing talks in Edinburgh, Barcelona and many other places and co hosting an event with Ian Harding! It led me to work for the Metro and to so many unbelievable opportunities and experiences including my job at Scope and it developed my absolute joy and love of radio.

But more than any of those things, I just feel so honoured that I have been able to talk to so many people, to help and support, to give strength, honesty and hope. Every single message means the world, I don’t take this role lightly, I feel blessed to have this space and to have a voice and I hope I will always use it to help others and spread a bit of kindness.

Sam Cleasby Timm Cleasby

Thank you to Timm, who always believed in me and helps me so much with the blog, he takes care of all the techy side of things, takes photos and is always there to bounce ideas off.  He also doesn’t mind that I share so much of our life with the whole world! He is my rock and I don’t think I would have managed five years without him.

And so today I just want to celebrate this blog that came from such humble beginnings and has grown more than I ever thought possible.  As I said, five years ago I couldn’t find one single UK based IBD blog and so I started my own, now there are hundreds if not thousands and I am chuffed that someone heading into ostomy surgery in 2018 won’t face the isolation and feelings of being totally alone as I did in 2013.  They will be able to find so many stories to inspire them, bring them hope and answer their questions.

And that’s all I ever wanted, to bring some understanding around this disease and strip away the fears and taboos around ostomy bags and IBD.  I wanted to be able to hold out a hand to someone and say ‘yes, I understand’, I wanted to share this journey I have been on to give it meaning and a reason! I wanted to help, and I hope I have.

happy birthday blog

 

Happy Birthday So Bad Ass – here’s to the next five years!!!

 

Love Sam xx

On BBC Breakfast talking about Blue Badges

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So there has been an announcement that Blue Badge rules are going to be looked at to make it easier for people with an invisible disability to get them.

I think this is great news, and Scope have said it is “A victory for common sense.”

sam cleasby at bbc breakfast blue badges invisible disability

I was invited onto the BBC Breakfast couch on Sunday 21st January to talk about my experiences of the blue badge and why I think it is a good idea.  It was an honour to go on BBC Breakfast again, I was there a couple of years ago talking about accessible toilets and so it was great to be back!

make up room bbc breakfast backstage at bbc breakfast sam cleasby blogger bbc media city

Timm came with me and filmed some of the day and put together a great video, apologies for the quality of the interview itself as we had to use one recorded by a family member off her TV!

Take a look here

 

If you want to have your say then please take part in the Blue Badge consultation, you need to do this before the 18th March.

For more support on this matter, you can head over to the Scope Community and chat with other members about how this will affect you.

You can chat with me about this on my facebook page or on twitter.

 

Sam xx

Crohns and Colitis UK South Yorkshire

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I am really proud to be a volunteer for the South Yorkshire group of Crohns and Colitis UK.

We are a small team who all have either Crohns or ulcerative colitis and we raise awareness, raise money and offer support to local people with IBD in our area.

A few weeks ago we had a race night in Hillsborough to raise money and have a great time. We were over the moon to raise over £1000!!

Crohns and Colitis uk South Yorkshire

We were thrilled to get into the Sheffield Star too.

We put on coffee mornings, attend events and put on our own and everyone is welcome.

Our next event is this Saturday at the medical education centre at Northern General hospital in Sheffield from 1-4pm. I will be doing a talk about the emotional and mental health aspects of IBD and there will also be talks by my wonderful surgeon Mr Brown and an IBD nurse.

Everyone is welcome, please do share the event and come along if you can.

 

Sam xx

Connect Magazine – IBD, a partner’s perspective

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If you’re a Crohns and Colitis UK member and get the Connect magazine then you may recognise the folk on the cover!

Crohns and Colitis uk connect magazine Sam Cleasby

 

Thanks to the guys at Crohns and Colitis UK for featuring us and for such a lovely feature.

Crohns and Colitis uk connect magazine Sam Cleasby

 

Sam xx

The Ostomistic Life

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Earlier this year, I was asked to feature in the quarterly online magazine The Ostomistic Life and I totally forgot to share it with you guys!

Take a look here, I am on pages 12-15.

the ostomistic life sam cleasby ostomy blogger IBD health invisible illness chronic illness magazine

Loose Women!

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A few weeks ago, Loose Women (the ITV daytime show) ran a campaign called #MyBodyMyStory after they all posed for an image in their underwear.  It was all about women celebrating their bodies, however we look and so of course, I decided to send in my photo and then hooted with laughter and giddiness when they went and showed it.

 

 

Any excuse to flash my bag, eh?!

 

Love Sam xxx

Breastfeeding a two year old – is it controversial?

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Ahhhhh other people telling women what they should and shouldn’t do with their bodies again. And heaven help us if a mother does what feels right for her and her child. 

Tamara Ecclestone has been defending herself after images of her breastfeeding her two year old child were shared.


Via Tamara Ecclestone Instagram 

The breastfeeding debate is ridiculous, it shouldn’t be a debate at all! Breast milk is the perfect food for babies and infants, it adapts to your child’s needs and it is awesome. 

Some people can’t or don’t want to breastfeed. They give their children formula milk which is the very next best thing. 

Some women feed for a few days, weeks or months, other for years. It’s really no one else’s business. Parents are just doing their best for their kids. 

This photo is beautiful and reminds me of religious art through the ages, the comments are disgusting and ignorant. 

The worst people for this are other women and I truly believe their defensiveness comes from fear. The scariest thing for a parent is to feel others are judging you and think you’re a bad mum. Mums face constant judgement on every aspect of parenting and it’s easy to feel you have to defend your way by attacking others. 

When I couldn’t breastfeed my daughter, seeing adverts telling me breast is best made me feel like they thought I didn’t want the best for my child. I felt the mums breastfeeding were eyeing my bottle of formula and thinking how shit a person I was. It made me so defensive. 

The reality was that those mums didn’t give a shit how I fed my daughter, they just were thinking of their own kids! 

When I breastfed my son for 10 months I felt judged for feeding him publicly, it was ok when he was a newborn but when he was a strapping kid turning his head, laughing and babbling to me, people liked it less. I was asked to feed him in the toilet, sent to bedrooms at parties, tutted at, laughed at and told that once they had teeth you should stop. 

We all need to be a lot kinder to each other, mums have gone through so much. 40 weeks of pregnancy where your body is changed beyond all recognition, birth (i.e. The act of removing a baby human from your body!!!) and then being responsible for another human being, often feeling that you lose your identity along the way. It’s hard work, man!!! 

So it’s easy to see how we get defensive when we feel attacked. We have created the worlds best child (yeah, we all think ours are the best!!!), we are exhausted, stressed, in love, overwhelmed and the most happy and tired we’ve ever been. So when we feel others think we’re doing it wrong, it hurts. And the easiest thing to do is to attack the opposite opinion. 

But it just becomes a vicious circle. From breastfeeding to weaning, stay at home mum to working mum, helicopter to free range… were pitting ourselves against the wrong people here! Mums need to join forces, whatever our parenting style, however we feed, play or work. We’re a vastly untapped powerhouse of humans! 

Being a mum is hard work and we need to look after each other more. We need to celebrate mothers more. We need to stop being arseholes to mums just trying to do their best. 

Sam xx 

Sheffield Live TV

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I was thrilled to be back on Sheffield Live TV last week with Simon Thake just before World IBD Day…

 

Talking Sheffield 17.05.2016 part 1 from Sheffield Live on Vimeo.

 

 

Sam xx