I didn't think I'd ever want to tell the full story of my journey so far but this is really a warning to never forget to look after your body and scream at your doctor if you feel somethings not right. Around the end of May I did some hill Training around loughries and thought I had severe back spasms, unfortunately wrongly diagnosed. From that point I felt a lot of back pain and stomach pain but put it down to to much Training and being an idiot but things just didn't get better i was hurting and by 12th July I had lost the will to eat because I cud keep nothing down, at this point I was put on high calorie drinks to try and keep energy in me but they didn't help. On the 3rd of August I went to A&E and was taken in straight away thinking I had gall stones but after 3 days and several different scans they found nothing and said I had an inflammed gall bladder, so of home I went again and by this point my husband had bought me a tens machine to run through the night so I cud sleep through pain. I struggled on for another 3 and half weeks growing weaker and losing more weight, I vomited everyday but the thing in my head was NO MATTER HOW BAD THIS GETS I CANT LEAVE MY GIRLS. The Friday before the kids went back to school from there summer break i decided enough I need to see doc, I went in and cried that I was in so much pain, I felt someone had put a javlin in my back and pushed through my belly. Doc asked questions felt my stomach and said awh I will refer you to Ulster and I left without even a paracetamol. On the 31st of August things went of control, I cud not walk, I threw up in car as I picked my daughter up and I was just a terrible colour. My husband came home at 5pm and was concerned as I cud not climb stairs, but I later made it up at 10.30PM he head as scream and thud on bedroom floor, he found me talking jibberish and round bottom of the bed. He called and ambulance and was rushed away immediately. I was in a bad state of affairs in A&E surgeons cud see my tummy was bleeding but had no idea were, I was rushed to surgery were they found A BURST PEPTIC ULCER and I had lost so much blood my body was in shock and I was unresponsive, in short my husband and family were told my life was on the line, the good people at the Ulster put 6 units of blood back into me and I was out for 4 days then on dialysis to help my shocked kidneys. The doctors had fixed my stomach told my family they done what they cud BUT NOW ITS RACHELS TURN TO FIGHT.

The doctors and nurses of Ulster ICU were I stayed for 12 days were brilliant, they held me when I cried and talked to me when I was frightened, they were brillant.

Without these the doctors and nurses from the Ulster Hospital ICU and the surgical team when i was rushed into hospital i would not be here today. In short my life was saved by these wonderful people and they work so hard, and 10 weeks after leaving hospital i was able to run my first 5km and my outlook on life has totally changed and this would never have been possible without this incredible hospital team, so now i would like to help them a little bit by trying to complete the Larne Half Marathon in March 2018 and raise some funds to help the ICU.