Anything is possible.
Caroline negotiates a waterfall in Swildon’s Hole cave, Mendips. Image: Christine Grosart
“We’re just in the bar, I’m the one in the sparkly top!”
And so she was. Not just a sparkly top, but cowboy boots as well!
Chester Storyhouse was beginning to fill up. Caroline Bramwell and I were two of eighteen women selected to ‘star’ in Louise Minchin’s award-winning book “Fearless: Adventures with Extraordinary Women”.
Natasha, Louise Minchin, Caroline Bramwell
Caroline’s story is extraordinary and I won't spoil it too much here, as she wrote a superb book called ‘Loo rolls to lycra’ as well as featuring in a chapter of ‘Fearless’ where she overcame the rather taboo subject of having a stoma.
To many people, having a stoma is of course lifesaving but in a bittersweet blow can also be life limiting and even life ending. A close family friend of mine was so desperate to have his stoma reversed but he embarked on surgery to do it, with devastating results. He succumbed to septicaemia and passed away.
Caroline was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis during her pregnancy with her second child and endured this debilitating illness for four years. As a result, her business collapsed; she became confined to her home and was unable to meet with clients, eventually leading to hospitalisation.
The procedure she underwent was a panproctocolectomy, which involves the complete removal of the bowel and the closure of the rectum—often referred to colloquially as having a 'Barbie butt'. Following this surgery, an ileostomy was formed, meaning the stoma is created from the ileum (the end part of the small intestine). In contrast, a colostomy would be made from the large intestine.
Instead of passing waste into the colon and rectum, waste exits through the stoma and is collected in an external pouch.
Caroline's story was one of such severe pain and debilitation that to have what she calls a ‘bag for life’ was the only way to get her quality of life back. And what a way to do it!
Caroline went from being a self-confessed couch potato, to learning how to swim and embark on a triathlon whirlwind.
She was determined to make sure that she was not limited by the lot that she was given and started testing the boundaries of medicine, which to be honest, were pretty outdated and archaic with regards to what an ostomate can do.
I had featured in Louise Minchin's book “Fearless” for my caving adventures. Caroline's eyes lit up when she found out about this.
“I'd love to do that” she said, but likely saw a look of consternation cross my face. Caroline was used to the medical profession casting doubts on her abilities to do anything other than breathe, now that she had a stoma bag for the rest of her life.
But somehow, she had got lucky. Sitting in front of her was not only a caving instructor but a paramedic and someone who was equally determined not to allow any physical setbacks to stop her achieving her dreams.
“Of course I'll take you caving” I said, not really thinking it through. “How hard could it be?”
Our first attempt was completely thwarted by my crashing my road bike during training for an Ironman. Luckily, as an Ironman triathlete herself, Caroline completely understood and we put the trip back a couple of months until I felt able to navigate a basic caving trip. This was still sketchy, as it turned out that I had a torn rotator cuff.
Just to be on the safe side and also to assist with underground photographs, my caving friend Elaine kindly joined the trip to help us out.
I went through my usual pre-cave briefing that I used as an instructor and it wasn't long before both Caroline and I were far more interested in the caving aspect than the stoma issue. The only thing we needed to consider, was the use of an assisted hand line. Quite often novices need this to help them up the near vertical climbs in the cave when they are not used to that sort of thing. This involves wearing either a caving belt or a harness. Obviously, this poses the risk of sitting on top of Caroline’s stoma. So, we spent the evening trying out different configurations and eventually settled on one that would work.
We packed some medical spares in a waterproof caving pot just in case and Caroline took the precaution of taking Imodium for the trip.
We went through the usual jovialities of kitting up into caving gear and looking like Teletubbies with helmets on. Elaine had the most awesome furry suit covered in sheep!
Elaine in her ‘woolly suit’
Caroline and Elaine chatted incessantly as we walked across the fields to the cave and for a moment, I remembered why I enjoyed being a caving instructor so much. I loved hooking people up to the point that I almost became irrelevant and I take pleasure in matching up my friends from all my different walks of life and activities.
Caroline stared at the entrance of the cave, Swildon’s Hole, with much the same trepidation that Louise Minchin had done. The difference being, Caroline was a little bit more aware of what she was getting into and was as excited as she was nervous.
Caroline sets off on her first excursion underground
I dumped the unwieldy camera box onto Elaine and we slithered our way down the cave, following the water and Caroline took it all in her stride.
It wasn't long before we met the first obstacle - Jacob’s ladder, where I needed to apply a harness and a hand line. Caroline managed this without any bother at all and we set off into the cave, watching her settle in and enjoy the scenery more and more as she went.
I played my usual trick of taking photographs on the way out, as this gives cavers a bit of a break from the uphill climb to the surface. In caving, what goes down has to come up and I always warn novices that as soon as they start to feel a little weary on the inward journey, it is time to turn for home. The outward trip is usually way more energetic.
Elaine climbing a cascade
Caroline stared into the black abyss as she looked down the 20 foot pitch, our turning point. I could see that she was keen to come back another day and perhaps go all the way to the sump. This meant a doubling in distance, time and difficulty of the trip.
We turned tail at this point and headed back, stopping on the odd occasion to have a snack and take some photographs.
Lying face down in a waterfall in the dark, posing for photos, I think Caroline at this point had completely forgotten about her stoma! I think we all had.
We surfaced as darkness started to fall and as we were all wet, it made sense to keep the chill off Caroline by wrapping her in a survival bag.
I can never understand why people carry survival bags but don't use them. The foil ones are useless but the big orange plastic ones make an immediate difference to your temperature, especially walking back across the fields in the wind. I simply dry it off, fold it up and use it another day.
Caroline reported after the trip that she was covered in bruises and aching from head to foot, but that she’d had the most brilliant day and her daughter was keen to give it a go as well. Whilst I may not have been able to convert Louise Minchin into the joys of caving, I had at least had some success in converting this triathlete, despite her medical hurdles to overcome, into being a caver.
Caroline in `Swildon’s Hole. Image: Christine Grosart