'I've had Crohn's for 40 years - I never know when it will strike'
At one point, Joanna was stuck in bed in Madagascar with a makeshift IV
A mum diagnosed with a condition she had never heard of has refused to let it stop her. Joanna O'Donoghue has travelled to 70 countries, exploring some of the world's most remote landscapes and brutal challenges. It's a big feat in itself - made even more impressive because she battles the chronic inflammatory bowel condition Crohn's Disease which can affect her at any moment.
The former teacher admitted she's had 'many' scary moments and her adventure across the world hasn't always been easy. She's occasionally had to go to bed hungry when her dietary restrictions are misunderstood but one instance in Madagascar was far more extreme.
Joanna, who raises funds for charities like ForCrohns on her travels, told the Mirror: 'I became very ill with Crohn's and we were miles from anywhere with no hospital. A doctor was called who took a while to get to where I was but he brought a bag full of medication and erected a drip by using a coat hanger at the top of the bed. This did mean that I was stuck to the bed.'
This and other stories are documented in her new book Gutsy Travels, which she hopes will inspire people and spread awareness of the chronic inflammatory bowel disease. She said: 'In recent years I decided to travel the world despite cautionary tales. I have visited Australia, South-East Asia, North, Central and South America and South Africa, to name but a few.
'I have been in the jungle, the rain forest, up mountains and on remote islands. I have been zip wiring, white water rafting and hang gliding. My fingers are always firmly crossed because if I am not near a hospital I could be in serious trouble, not to mention severe pain. People often ask me how I do it and aren't I just a little bit scared? Of course I am but that doesn't stop me.'
One of her top tips for fellow Crohn's travellers is having a doctor's letter translated into the local language of the country you are visiting that can explain your condition, requirements and what to do if you need to be hospitalised. Medications, toilet rolls and hand sanitiser are also must-haves in her travel bags.
She added: 'People don't always 'get it', particularly the immediacy of the situation when you need the loo, but they are usually sympathetic and helpful. I am also not afraid to share information with fellow travellers so that they are aware if I have to stop a bus to go to the toilet behind a bush!'
While the book is due to be published on May 28, Joanna's travels haven't stopped yet as she's still keen on journeying through India, Japan and New Zealand. Looking back on her journey so far, there's one area that she highly recommends.
She said: 'The Galapagos Islands were special as there are animals and birds here that you can see nowhere else on earth. Each country has a different memory and has been special in some way.'
In 1983, Joanna was a full-time teacher in her 20s living in a mobile home as a single parent to her two-year-old daughter when she started becoming ill. After countless appointments and failing treatments, she collapsed in a doctor's office and was taken for emergency surgery.
When she woke up, she was told she had Crohn's Disease. 'I had never heard of it," she sadi. There didn't seem to be much awareness generally and I always had to explain to people what it was.'
She went in for major surgery and later returned to the operating room to get an ileostomy, a surgical opening made in the abdomen that leaves the last part of the small intestine exposed to allow waste to pass through into an ileostomy bag, which was ultimately avoided thanks to a skilful surgeon.
More than 40 years later, Joanna has roughly learned what will trigger a flare up of her condition. But she admits it can still sometimes appear out of nowhere and leave her needing morphine in hospital to deal with the pain.
She explained: 'Imagine your worst bout of food poisoning: gripping pains in your stomach; no control over your bowels; nausea accompanying this; that shaky feeling and then dehydration.
'Imagine that happening to you over and over again: when you're out and about; in the car on a motorway; driving through a city with nowhere to stop; trying on clothes in a changing room; on a long walk; on a first date; on a bus; on a small boat with no toilet; riding a horse on your own; on an aeroplane with a long queue for the toilet or delivering training to two hundred people at a conference where you are the main speaker. All of these have happened to me and more.'
Joanna developed the travel bug years before her diagnosis. During her childhood, her Midlands-based family never went much further than Devon and she got on her first flight in her second year of teacher training. She spent six months as part of an exchange programme at Eastern Michigan University in the US and her adventures across North America sparked a love of travel and adventure.
She has also managed to pair her love of travelling with her desire to spread awareness and hope for Crohn's Disease patients. Joanna has trekked across the mountains of Albania, Transylvania and even up Machu Picchu as a fundraising effort for ForCrohns.
She added: 'I have lived with Crohn's for over forty years and in many ways, it has defined me, specifically in terms of the way I look at life. I wish I didn't have it but there are many things worse than this.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
5 hours ago
- Daily Record
Ryanair warns passengers after hundreds miss flights amid airport chaos
The budget airline has issued a stark warning to passengers as Portugal experiences airport chaos with more than 270 passengers missing their flights in the last two weeks Ryanair has issued a stern warning to holidaymakers following travel turmoil at several Portuguese airports, leaving hundreds stranded at departure gates. The budget airline reported that over the past fortnight, more than 270 passengers have missed their flights due to lengthy queues and severe understaffing at border control. The most significant delays are being experienced at Faro, Lisbon and Porto airports, with wait times reportedly extending up to an astonishing two and a half hours. In a statement released on Monday, Ryanair condemned the situation as "completely unacceptable", urging Portugal's new government to address the staffing crisis. "In just the past two weeks, over 270 passengers missed their flights at these airports due to excessive delays caused by understaffed border controls," the airline stated. The problem began to intensify around 26 May, with the airline cautioning that families, including those travelling with young children, were getting caught in the chaos. The issue is particularly severe during morning peak hours, when passenger numbers surge and border posts are overwhelmed, reports the Mirror. Ryanair blamed airport operator ANA for failing to adequately prepare for the annual summer travel influx. The statement continued, "The new government should take urgent measures to ensure that border control at Portuguese airport is duly equipped with resources. " It also emphasised the urgency for proactive measures to avert further turmoil as the busy season approaches, "especially during the morning rush hour, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and more people unfairly missing their flights". Neal McMahon, Operations Director at Ryanair, termed the current circumstances as "unsustainable," cautioning of an escalation in problems as passenger numbers soar in the summer. Portugal's Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, recently attempted to quell rising anxieties by assuring that issues with border controls would be "resolved within two weeks". The PSP police force has committed to introducing 500 additional officers to fortify airport security and manage border checks in Lisbon, Porto, Madeira, and the Azores starting from July. An initiative for immediate reinforcements at Faro Airport, where the situation has been especially severe, is already in motion. Travellers planning trips to or via Portugal are urged to allot extra time for airport arrival to avoid potentially missing their flights. This development unfolds as travel agencies have observed a significant number of UK holiday-goers opting for north African destinations over customary European retreats. The lure seems to be the region's abundance of competitively priced high-quality accommodation compared to costlier options in traditional holiday spots like Spain, France, and Italy. North African nations including Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia are witnessing a surge in visitors from the UK. According to aviation analysts Cirium, an estimated 19,847 flights are expected to operate from UK airports to these countries this year, more than double the 8,653 flights recorded in 2019. In contrast, the number of flights to Spain and Portugal is predicted to rise by just 10 per cent and 9 per cent respectively over the same period.
Daily Mirror
13 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Brit on 27 year trek around the world escaped polar bear, Putin and drug cartels
A Brit is on his way home on the last leg of an extraordinary journey around the world which has taken him 27 years so far An adventurous Brit could soon become the first person to complete an unbroken round-the-world walk after starting the last leg of his 36,000 mile journey - 27 years after setting off. Karl Bushby, 56, set off from Chile on November 1, 1998 and is now heading for home after an 'epic' expedition on foot, which saw him escape death more than a dozen times. In one extraordinary near miss in Alaska, he ended up stranded on ice 28 miles from the coast after it broke off during a storm. He has also survived a close encounter with a polar bear and a Panama hellhole jail after being wrongly suspected of being an illegal immigrant. He even spent weeks under house arrest in Russia. 'We've lurched from crisis to crisis,' his dad, a former SAS hero himself, told the Mirror. 'But I feel extremely proud that he's done it. "I wouldn't have the bottle to do some of it myself. It's a unique expedition, I don't think there's ever been one where the person has never gone home in between stages." Astonishingly his dad revealed his son doesn't really like walking much. "He doesn't really like walking," he laughed, "he is only doing it to achieve something." Asked how he has coped with the worry for almost three decades, the dad said: 'I couldn't spend 27 years worrying. It's just another day in the office for him.' When his son Karl, a former paratrooper, began his epic journey, he was just 28 years old and Tony Blair was Prime Minister, Cher was No 1, and Arsenal were champions of the Premier League. He had served 12 years in the Parachute Regiment before deciding to start his extraordinary challenge. He decided to walk home to Hull from the southern tip of South America without using any forms of transport to progress. 'He had access to maps of the world working in the battalion intelligence cell that started it all,' Keith said. After leaving Chile he walked through the dangerous jungles of Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia, into North America, passing across the US, then Canada, eventually reaching the Arctic Circle. He then made it across the Bering Strait, where the US is separated by Russia by 51 miles of sea before scrambling across huge lumps of floating ice into Russia in 2006, then through China. After Russia invaded Ukraine he was unable to enter the country again and instead had to swim 186 miles across the Caspian Sea, the world's largest lake. Now he has less than 2,000 miles left to walk before he arrives at his home city of Hull. Karl, who is currently in Mexico waiting for a visa to complete his challenge, has said returning home will be a "very strange place to be" after being away for almost three decades. Karl, told BBC Radio Humberside: "On 1st November 1998 you're literally looking down at a road that's 36,000 miles long and have no idea how you're going to do it. "We've run into a lot of complications with visa problems, financial crises, the pandemic, we've had it all. It's been extremely difficult but we've always stuck to our guns and never been willing to compromise on the route." The rules to his challenge include not being allowed to use any form of transport to advance and 'not allowed to return to the UK until I can walk home'. He has to be out of Turkey for 90 days before getting a fresh visa and aims to arrive in Hull by September 2026, after a challenge which was supposed to take 12 years. Karl, a divorced dad-of-one, said there had been "a few occasions" where he feared for his life, but he was "mentally prepared" for the tough encounter. "Getting home, I just don't know, it's weird, it's a very strange place to be in where suddenly your purpose for living will have a hard stop. "I'm hoping to transition into other things as quickly as possible, keeping mind, body and soul on the move." He said reuniting with his family would involve getting "to know each other again". His dad, Keith Bushby, 77, who lives in Herefordshire, has been supporting his son every step of the way, keeping in contact over the internet and stepping into help when it was needed. He told The Mirror on Wednesday: 'Karl has always been a natural born wanderer. As a child, I lost him no end of times. He would look at the horizon and wander off towards it.' Talking about what drives his son on, he adds: 'He's dyslexic and had a hard time at school. It left him scared but it toughened him up, no doubt about that. 'I managed to get him in the army at 16 as a junior parachute company. He progressed to Three Para.' He said his son then started talking about wanting to do a 'long walk'. 'I think it is all because the world had written him off and he wanted to show there was more to him.' Keith doesn't know where to start talking about his son's adventures: 'He's had at least a dozen near death experiences. 'Like the time he was crossing Alaska in the winter. For a number of days Karl said it was like someone was walking around his tent beating it with a shovel, he never got out of his sleeping bag as there was a windchill factor of minus 98. 'The storm died down and Karl unzipped it to discover he was 28 miles out to sea, the ice flow had moved. I had to organise a helicopter rescue. At the time he was with a fellow adventurer, who joined him for part of his journey, but who lost part of his finger to frostbite during the storm. 'That's just a typical incident, another time he went through the ice down into the frozen sea. Luckily enough they did the ice dip in Norway during his training, so that came in handy.' The ice was to blame for another close call, Keith explains, when his son crossed the Bering Strait and the ice started cracking beneath his tent so much the fabric floor was stretched. 'Can you imagine that in the middle of the night? He got out very quickly and dragged the tent to one side.' In Colombia, he told how his son had to disguise himself, dying his blond hair black, wearing rags to escape the gaze of dangerous cartels. Then in the Darién Gap, a 60-mile stretch of dense rainforest and jungle, Karl told his dad 'I've never been so frightened in my life'. 'He put his hammock up in some quite dense jungle when he could hear about 20/30 men with their weapons clinking walking past him just 10 yards away, luckily it was at night and they didn't spot him.' It was Alaska again when Karl faced further danger, when he came across a 'huge polar bear' but luckily he was as surprised as him. 'It reared up with its arms out and it was absolutely enormous and it was a shock but he stood still and the bear realised he wasn't a threat and just walked away.' Half the battle of his journey has been for visas or finding a way round no-go countries, such as Iran and later Russia. As he waited for papers he would return to a small 'bunker' in Mexico, refusing to ever allow himself home until the challenge is complete. 'He has never been back to the UK as that's his rule. He cannot come home until he's walked there. Russia was a nightmare, they would allow him 90 days visas only. He was detained by The Federal Security Service (FSB). Some of the tales have been amazing. 'He got to a local town in the most north eastern part of Siberia, 1800 miles to the nearest road. At first it was all okay and he was having a drink with the local mayor. 'But then the FSB came and they were most upset. Nothing ever happened up there and next thing you know there's two westerners turning up, they were obviously spies in their eyes. 'They were arrested and everything was taken off them. They put them in a hotel, which they had to pay for but they locked them in, they didn't even have toothbrushes. 'Local people were quite good and the local priest brought them food. For a month they were there before they went before a local court. They were done for illegal entry. They were fined 40 quid and ordered to leave the country. 'I think they got out thanks to the ex Chelsea boss, Roman Abramovich, he was the governor of that area. We think his representative must have had a word with people and things moved. 'It was dodgy though and could have all ended there if Russian had not let him back in. He's gone into Russia lots since then and each time they strip his computer down. ' Asked if he remarried, the dad laughs and says: "Who is going to marry him? Someone might for a couple of days then he's off again." On Wednesday Karl told The Mirror about his apprehension at returning to his home in the UK. He said: 'It's a big change in one's life after 20 odd years. I don't know the United Kingdom any more. When I left Tony Blair was Prime Minister and it was a very different world. I don't know what to expect. It almost has a distant mythical status." About what he has learnt during his huge journey, he said: 'I've re-established my faith in humanity, the overwhelming support and kindness you find in the world and that's stood out to me from the very beginning. I've found that in every country." He said his favourite countries were Chile and Columbia and the "toughest" probably Russia. "One of the toughest countries was Russia both in climate and politically," he said explaining how he spent 57 days detained and it got "pretty tense and pretty scary". Alaska, he said, was "beautiful" but the winters were harsh and "a real eye opener" - with a couple of "near death experiences" on his way to the Bering Straits. He endured the coldest weather there with temperatures down to minus 51 without windchill, but with windchill he said it worked it out at minus 97 or 98. 'It's painful and stressful. The world is literally trying to kill you at that point. Feel your joints freezing," he said. Now Karl says he needs to find a new adventure as he is starting to feel his age and plans to start a not for profit project involving science literacy. "I've got to switch focus now as my adventure days are coming to an end. I'm 56 years old. Things are starting to hurt now and I can't do what I used to be able to do, so I've got to wrap things up pretty quick.."
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
'I'm a former check-in agent and the worst time to travel is not during summer'
The busiest month to travel isn't during the summer despite many craving the sunshine - you'll more likely be delayed at a completely different time of year By the middle of the year, most Brits have some form of travel plans in place - especially those about to fly away to a tropical destination. But there's no denying that security queues are bustling, families with a trail of luggage trying to navigate through the terminal are plenty, and the roads leading to the airports themselves are traffic-ridden. The more flights landing and taking off from airports can also lead to the common misconception that delays are more likely during this time period. According to former check-in agent Ashley Bautista, now a Mirror journalist, this is not the case. "Believe it or not, the most chaotic period is during the Christmas holidays," she said. "This is because compared to peak travel days, there are fewer flights on Christmas Day." Christmas is the time when everyone's flying out to spend time with their friends and family. If you live hundreds or even thousands of miles away from home, the most convenient method of travel is by plane. But just as you're trying to reunite with your loved ones, hundreds of thousands of people are also trying to do the same thing. During this festive period, it's common to see a lot of flights getting delayed or cancelled, whether for weather or maintenance reasons. It's a frustrating feeling especially during such an important time, but it's inevitable. Remember, ground-crews also have to de-ice the aircraft in sub-zero temperatures before it takes off which can often lead to a delayed take-off. According to Heathrow Media Center, London's Heathrow Airport welcomed more than seven million passengers alone. It turned it into the busiest period ever, exceeding the pre-pandemic numbers in 2019 by three million. The UK also saw a total of 11 million passengers jetting off from all UK airports, as reported by the UK CAA. Ashley continued: "As a former check-in agent, I've been in situations where flights were overbooked because the airline oversold their seats or because passengers had been moved from one airline to another due to cancellations. Still, that didn't guarantee them a seat. "It wasn't the best news to deliver, especially during that time of the year, as families were travelling to reunite with their loved ones." She even recalled instances where passengers would have to wait for days until they got to board the flight. In the worst case scenario, the airline would offer financial compensation for those who volunteered to be pulled out of the flight, if needed. "So, the myth that summer is the busiest season to go abroad has been debunked - at least for now," she continued. "If you plan to book a holiday this summer or in the upcoming months, it's good to be aware of it. Just like Tuesday's are known to be the cheapest day to fly out, it's also good to learn some other travel hacks."
