Daisy Cooper says it was ‘very personal decision’ to share health story

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper has said it was a “very personal decision” to share that she was once told she had “just four days” to live.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Ms Cooper said the experience “really motivated” her to “campaign for our NHS and social care”.

In her speech to the party’s autumn conference on Monday, Ms Cooper, the MP for St Albans, told delegates that 12 years ago she was “rushed to hospital” and then later “sobbed” as she faced the prospect of having to give up work due to Crohn’s disease.

“A few weeks in, I was told that without major surgery I had just four days left to live. My weight had dropped to around seven stone, my eyesight was failing,” she told the conference.

Recalling her experiences, she said that her arms had gone “black and blue” and she was “fed only through a feeding tube”.

Speaking to PA on Monday afternoon, Ms Cooper said she wanted to share the story from both a personal and political point of view.

She explained: “I think for many of us as politicians it’s often a very personal decision as to when and how we share those stories about ourselves.

“It’s something that when I had that treatment it really motivated me to campaign for our NHS and social care, it’s been a huge privilege to be the health and social care spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats.

“And so from a personal point of view I wanted to share the story, but also from a political point of view we Lib Dems are now saying we want the Budget that’s coming up to be a Budget to save our NHS and care.

“And the fact of the matter is that lives really do depend on it.”

Reflecting on her time receiving care, Ms Cooper said in her speech that it “wasn’t the prospect of major surgery that upset me, it was what was said next”.

“’Even if you survive Daisy, even if you recover, you’ll probably never work again. Your Crohn’s disease is so aggressive, at most you might be able to work one day a week’.”

According to Crohn’s and Colitis UK, with Crohn’s disease “your immune system starts attacking your gut. This causes painful ulcers and inflammation that can be anywhere in your gut from your mouth to your bum”.

Ms Cooper told the conference that she was advised she would probably need further surgeries and was handed an information pack about what benefits she may be entitled to.

She said she laid in her hospital bed and “sobbed”.

“I sobbed and I sobbed and I sobbed for 17 hours straight. It felt like my world had fallen apart. As a campaigner, I have always found my meaning and purpose in my work,” she said.

“As is the case with so many millions of people, the NHS didn’t just save my life, the people who make our NHS what it is gave me my life back.”