April 2024
Teaming up with the Chameleon Buddies
I’m excited to announce I’ll be joining charity ‘Chameleon Buddies’ climbing Mount Kilimanjaro team 2025 in fundraising for Kenyan women & girls with stomas following childbirth injuries. Severe childbirth injuries have a significant impact on both physical and psychological quality of life, they are life changing.
When Gill Castle, founder of Chameleon Buddies, invited me to join her 'Climb Kili' 2025 team supporting these women, I felt honoured, privileged and I was eager to accept a place on this amazing adventure.
This challenge has personal significance for me as I have a stoma and became an ostomate in 2019 after living with the debilitating effects of a traumatic childbirth injury for over 20 years.
Without my colostomy, I wouldn’t have been able to consider taking on a challenge like this. My stoma has given me freedom and a chance to live life as fully as possible.
I aim to inspire fellow ostomates to pursue their ambitions, smash stigmas, and assist Chameleon Buddies in raising crucial funds for their stoma clinic project in Kenya, providing essential support to women in need.
The money raised will be used to help build a dedicated stoma and continence wing at the Gynocare and Women’s Fistula Hospital at Eldoret, Kenya.
Every donation makes a difference and any contributions are hugely appreciated. If you would like to support me, please visit my JustGiving page at the link below:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/jo-prance-climbs-kilimanjaro-4-chameleonbuddies
Your donations will go directly to Chameleon Buddies and help the team to make a lasting impact, empowering these women to live their lives to the fullest.
Why and how Chameleon Buddies help women in Kenya:
Across the world, between 50,000 and 100,000 women are affected by a childbirth injury that results in stoma surgery; an opening made in the abdomen where bodily waste is discharged into a bag to bypass the bowel or bladder. Adapting to this change is physically and mentally challenging.
In Kenya, the impact of a stoma is even more isolating. Many are left without the essential stoma bags needed and resort to using unsanitary items from crisp packets to tin cans in an event to prevent leaks. It is impossible for these women or girls to work or attend school and they are often completely excluded from their home communities.
That's where Chameleon Buddies comes in...
Chameleon Buddies is dedicated to ensuring that Kenyan women & girls with stomas receive essential education and stoma care while actively combating stigma. Based in Eldoret, Kenya, we offer support to women and girls facing stomas and continence issues due to fistulas, often stemming from prolonged childbirth. We provide much-needed stoma supplies and aspire to establish a clinic to further support these women.
The Telegraph online
Thank you to journalist Susanna Galton and photographer Clara Molden for this feature about my life as an ostomate.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/diet/gut-health/living-with-stoma-bag/
MASIC OASI BIRTH INJURY SUPPORT GROUP GUILDFORD 2024
Looking for support following birth injury?
This peer to peer support group co-ordinated and run by myself on behalf of The MASIC Foundation recommences this month. If you are interested in attending or would like further information please contact me at: masic.guildford@gmail.org