Nurse weighed just five stone and needed the toilet 30 times a day due to painful condition

A nurse says her weight plummeted to just five stone while battling a painful and debilitating condition - but getting a stoma bag fitted was the “best thing” she has ever done. Katie Harpur, 25, dropped to just five stone while battling the painful symptoms of Crohn’s disease, which left her unable to walk, or eat without throwing up.

Katie, from Belfast, was diagnosed with Crohn’s in 2014 at the age of 16 after suffering with symptoms for two years. She was told it was inevitable that she would eventually need a stoma bag.

Katie was fitted with a temporary bag in 2019 before having an operation to make her stoma permanent in June 2022. She says it has changed her life, and she is now able to go on her dream trip away.

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“I used to need to go to the toilet up to 30 times a day and I couldn’t go out and socialise for fear of there not being facilities nearby," she told PA. “It was incredibly limiting, and I was in a lot of pain to the point where I didn’t even want to go anywhere.

“I’d always wanted to travel but it was impossible for me to do so until I got my stoma bag fitted. Now I’ve booked my first long-haul flight to Tokyo, something I never would have been able to do before the op.”

Katie first started experiencing pain and nausea at the age of 14 but said doctors initially found it difficult to diagnose her. She said doctors first though she might be bulimic because of her sudden weight loss.

“I lost a dangerous amount of weight and weighed just five stone, but I didn’t have an eating disorder, it was just too painful for me to eat and if I did eat, I would vomit," Katie said. “I remember one