Hidden disability and refusing to let it win

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0:31Lucy Foy: I'm Danny White-Scawn and this is Behind the Title, where leaders show up differently. Today I'm joined by Lucy Foy, Director at iMedia, who joins us to talk about her experience living with Crohn's disease.

0:42unknown host: People don't understand it. You kind of see this as a person, but there's not a day that you go by that you're not in pain. People with Crohn's disease really push themselves. You know, you don't want to give up on yourself. So I'm hoping that being on here, I'm able to give people confidence and know it's okay to talk about it and be a bit braver as well.

1:04Lucy Foy: We're excited to shine a light on the topic of hidden disability, specifically Crohn's, given it affects over half a million people in the UK. We look forward to enjoying this episode.

1:17Lucy Foy: Hello, welcome Lucy. It's so lovely to have you here. um we uh i think we we've known each other through uh your partner actually um and but you're also within the industry so it'd be lovely for um people to hear a bit about you um and why it was important for you to come on behind the title today brilliant well first of all thank you so

1:40unknown host: much for inviting me on here it's a real pleasure so thank you so much um so yeah so i've been in the industry since my early 20s. I started off at the Express newspapers and then I worked on OK New and Star. From there I went to work at Bauer and worked across the mags. It was a really great grounding working the press days for sales.

2:03Lucy Foy: Oh how it's changed.

2:04unknown host: It definitely has changed. It definitely has. And then from there I changed and worked in the out of home industry where I worked at Deco and Ocean Outdoor and worked on some amazing creative campaigns which I absolutely love outdoor you know it's one of my favorite things to be likewise yeah so yeah so I suppose I'm here today to talk to you about Crohn's disease and how I've been living with Crohn's disease since my early 20s and how I kind of do that alongside working and kind of keep going really to be honest with you um it's such a hidden illness that people don't understand or see uh what people you know or who's got it really yeah what was amazing we talked before is you

2:48Lucy Foy: fact check me if i'm wrong here i think it's you know about half a million people in the uk suffer with crohn's disease correct yeah um uh and that's kind of translates about you know one in 12 13 people like that's quite a high number of people that are suffering with the disease yeah and I think what I found amazing because it is what I would class as a hidden disability 100 % is on the outside you know you look really well and healthy explain a bit more about Crohn's disease and how it can affect someone on a daily basis yeah so Crohn's disease

3:29unknown host: is an inflammatory bowel disease and that can affect everything from your throat all the way through to your gut but there's also other symptoms with it it's um you can't digest food very well you can't absorb nutrition at all um it also is a disease that keeps on giving uh from that you end up and taking yeah you end up getting rheumatoid arthritis which i suffer from as well um it's not just about going to the toilet a hundred times a day which does happen. It's all about the other things that go with it. So with the rheumatoid arthritis, your joints seize up, your hands seize up, but it's also the fatigue that you get with it as well.

4:11unknown host: So it's really debilitating in all senses. For me, there's kind of never a day that I don't wake up and I'm not in pain or I go to bed, I'm always in pain. So it's one of those things that you just kind of have to keep going and I don't kind of let it win in those respects. it's just something that I feel that people don't understand and I think that's why you know I've come on here today to try and voice and let people know and make people more aware of how debilitating the disease really is.

4:44Lucy Foy: Are you in pain now?

4:45unknown host: Yeah my joints are always in pain in my hands yeah there's always something niggling going on.

4:52Lucy Foy: And do you take medication for?

4:54unknown host: Yeah so I inject myself every couple of weeks i take medication in the mornings millions of supplements because your body can't absorb certain you know nutrition that you take in so you're always trying to add

5:07Lucy Foy: by taking different vitamins and things i assume you have to go to hospital on a regular basis

5:11unknown host: yeah so i go i mean that's one thing i think about the disease that is very frustrating is because you have to go regularly i do every two weeks to have blood tests because the injections that I give myself. So you always have to be going there. And you always have to go to hospital appointments. I mean, for me, my doctors are half an hour away drive. And then my hospitals are over an hour drive. And I think that's another thing. I think when you're working, people say, oh, you're going to the doctors again, or they're having time off work. Well, I don't want to be going. I really don't want to be going to that appointment.

5:45unknown host: Because every time I go to that appointment it's either probably bad news every time um I have these blood tests that I have and I know now I'm great I can read blood tests I can tell you exactly if it's good or bad and what's happening in my system but every time you're going it's like oh um your inflammation levels are really high I'm like well I kind of know that because that's the disease but no they're really high right we need to take another medication to bring that back down or your iron levels are really low this this week um okay well I'm taking my supplements well well, your body's not absorbing those supplements very well.

6:19unknown host: So what else can we be doing? If my iron is so low, I have to go into hospital and have an iron infusion. So an iron infusion, the doctors don't give those sort of things out willy-nilly. You have to be in a severe deficit to have that. Then more recently, obviously, it's an inflammation illness and it affects your immune system. So I can get coughs and colds like that because of the immune suppressant drugs that I'm on. so it's a lot to deal with and last time it was your white blood cell levels are so low that you're even more prone to normal than normal to get an infection or something so when I'm getting on the train or the tube I'm always kind of like you're still wearing a mask yeah well sometimes I'm always like hiding in the corner so I don't want to get ill again um just go back

7:06Lucy Foy: a second because because actually you said something that's come up in previous episodes about when you have to make hospital visits.

7:13unknown host: Yes.

7:13Lucy Foy: Do you think it's more your head that maybe you think that people are either casting judgment or have a point of view as to you're not working versus people have actually said that?

7:25unknown host: Yeah, it's definitely in my head, 100%. It's because you feel guilty. And again, because you give off this persona, people think you're fine. But really, I'm battling all these other things that are going inside me and I feel guilty because I'm not working when I should be there supporting my team and, you know, and going out to all the meetings and things like that that I need to be doing. So, yeah, it's a guilt thing from within.

7:48Lucy Foy: I find that fascinating. We had, you might even know, Melissa Cafferke, who came on in the last series. She's currently in remission for cancer. Yeah. And she was talking about her experience of getting back into the workplace and specifically probably more what her head told her around you know is she is she going to be judged because she's not been around for a long time and therefore trying to integrate back into the team take on relationships you know lead on specific projects and I think it was more of a uh like i don't know if you call it like maybe it's imposter syndrome maybe it's a little bit of uh fear that you know as you say externally i look fine yeah so people will be saying well why am i not why am i not doing my job over here um it kind of leads me to my to my first question then like you know you mentioned you got uh diagnosed uh um to me earlier at 20 yeah early 20s yeah and and I do think it's an interesting story just explain to them how that how that

8:57unknown host: diagnosis came about so I was just walking to work and I decided that morning I was like oh I'm gonna have a scone for breakfast so I popped in where do you buy scones from for breakfast M &S at Broadgate okay it's a good scone uh but I had the scone and literally as soon as I ate that scone within seconds I was having to rush to the toilet and I thought god that's really unlike me that's really strange I'd never been a big person but I thought oh you know I ate that and I was you know going to the toilet straight away and then the next day for some reason I went and purchased the same thing again and then I ate it but everything after that everything I consumed was just coming straight out of me and I couldn't control it and it's unfortunately that's where it all started for me and it was just one of those things that just changed my life from eating that thing and I don't think it was anything at the time I'm not saying it was a scone I just the infection has always been in me clearly but it was just that something within that just triggered it

9:54Lucy Foy: and that's where it all started and so you you've had a a pretty uh I guess a decorated career across publishing out of home um you know I talk about it quite a lot you know uh in the workplace but also at home other halves in the industry I think sometimes we fall foul of we're so busy and there's so much to do and, you know, I can't leave my phone alone. But at the same time, I think that we can forget about looking after ourselves. And so was there a moment in your career, because you obviously got diagnosed at 20, where on the outside, everything, the veneer was great.

10:37unknown host: Yeah. But inside, you were crumbling.

10:41Lucy Foy: There was a moment where you just couldn't cope anymore, but you either carried on or maybe you didn't. And maybe you kind of drew a line under where you were at that point. Has there been one or more of those moments?

10:59unknown host: I think it's continuous moments for me. I really do. I think because there's not a day that I wake up when I'm not in pain, as I've already said. I think it's just a continuous keep going. and it's one of those things that you know as a sufferer that if I give in I feel like the illness is going to win so I don't kind of give in I keep going like you go to bed and probably you know people sleep really nicely and easy I go to bed I've got aches and pains I have to get up probably go to the toilet I have to take painkillers to try and help with the pain that's happening in my joints those sort of things so for me it's a constant battle and I feel like is there's never one day that I wake up and I'm like, I don't know what it's like to not have pain in my life, if that makes sense.

11:45unknown host: I don't know what that's like to wake up and feel like, oh my God, I feel amazing today. I get up and I'm like, oh God, okay, here we go again. We can do this. Let's do this. Let's put this face on. Let's go. And I think that's how I've, I just get on with it. I keep going. I keep going probably to the detriment to myself sometimes because I push myself too much. And I know that. And that's when other things set in the fatigue and you know that you need to go home and just not do anything and rest.

12:13Lucy Foy: But has there then, to build on that, has there been a moment where you've pushed yourself too far? You know, where you've really, you know, the wheels have come off and you just...

12:22unknown host: Yeah, I mean, I used to end up in hospital nearly every month at the beginning. I've collapsed at many of the places that I've worked at that had to call ambulances for me because of all the drugs that I've been on, the drugs that you're on throughout being on Crohn's, the different drugs you take, it's insane. And like what happens to your body while you're taking those drugs? It's just, it's a constant battle with it. I think for me, I mean, I was on steroids for over a year and all of a sudden my body just gave up and I had an anaphylactic shock to it. And I don't know if anybody's ever seen anybody has an anaphylactic shock.

13:00unknown host: it's pretty horrific and I was really lucky that I was actually in hospital at the time when I was having it and yeah that for me I was like my god like what's going on like this is this is really serious these drugs I'm taking.

13:13Lucy Foy: Obviously I know that you're you're uh your privilege you've got you know some uh some stepchildren in your life do you find it hard to manage the condition around being a parent at the same time yeah either managing them but also helping them understand your condition or does that just do you keep two separate um i've tried to explain it's very hard

13:36unknown host: obviously it's very hard to for them to understand for me it's my energy levels because there's so much fatigue because the it really drains you the illness where they're there i try and be give them 110 and then when they go home i'm like oh my god and then i really kind of normally have a downward would spiral and then I won't feel great for another day because it's really taken all my energy out of me I try and explain to them I wasn't I had unfortunately ended up in hospital at the summer across the summer this year because my bowel where I had half my bowel taken out when I was 29 had my ileum colon and a large part of my bowel was taken out because it perforated and it gave me septicemia and I was in hospital I was 29 years old and you're being told right you're going to be rushed into hospital to have your bowel taken out and it's kind of like okay

14:28Lucy Foy: well what does that mean what does that mean what does that mean so it's either unfortunately i found

14:34unknown host: out your bowel is the only organ that doesn't really go back together it doesn't like rejoining in different places hence why people end up with a colostomy bag um so you know i always remember saying to my surgeon please don't don't do that i don't want to be cut from here to here please can you keep it keyhole I love wearing bikinis like I'm 29 years old you know and he's like okay I'll try my best I'll try my best and the options are you know hopefully the bowel does go back together that's what you hope for or if it doesn't go back there and then they give you a bag to give the bowel chance to sort of rest and recoup and then they try and join it obviously some people unfortunately end up with a colostomy bag um for the rest of their lives um and I was very very lucky I ended up being able to have my bowel joined back together again which it did change my life but the disease is still within my bowel and within me um and then yeah this summer um where the join was in my bowel um it collapsed again uh the inflammation just took over and it collapsed and I ended up back in hospital um were there visible symptoms or yeah I was really ill for the like three weeks up to it.

15:50unknown host: There's lots of things. My speech was going funny. I had to rush the toilet a lot. I mean, it was pretty horrific. Some of the things I had to go through in those three weeks and the stuff just wasn't going well. I just was going downhill. And then I remember we had dinner on a Sunday evening and all of a sudden my stomach just sort of distended and was out here and I was in agony and I was like, oh, this something's not right. I really don't feel well. And I thought I'd given us food poisoning, but I know I'm a good cook so I was like hang on it can't be food poisoning and then about 2 a.m in the morning my other half was like I've got what can you have I was like maybe a peppermint tea you know digestion that might help and then all of a sudden I was just being violently ill I had one sip of peppermint tea and everything was just coming back up and what had happened the food had nowhere to go the bowel had closed quite high up and there was just nowhere for the food to go so everything was just coming back up back out of me so um back back to hospital here we go again you know what's going to happen I had surgeons looking at me and going right so are we having to cut this piece out again because there's still lots of information um could we take some more steroids to try and open up the bowel again and I was like you know please let's give this a steroids a horrific drug um so I was like let's go for the steroids let's give it a go um and I was very lucky um that that did open up my bowel again um and so it's back reworking but yeah I know um it's just one of those things now I feel like I've got a bit of a ticking time bomb in me um does it ever

17:29Lucy Foy: get too much I don't let it I don't mentally yeah no sometimes maybe I'm I'm such a strong

17:37unknown host: person that it probably does but I don't I and sometimes I get told you should let you know maybe sometimes let it out a bit but I just keep going I just keep I don't want it to like yeah control me I've never wanted it control me because I feel like if you let this disease in it will control your life and I just don't want that I mean we haven't even we haven't even got

18:04Lucy Foy: into this yet but like that's just hearing that uh for me and certainly hopefully people listening will be hugely educational but also massively inspiring um like that the bravery I think that you're showing a sitting here but be um talking about um how you have experienced some of the challenges but then overcome uh and continue to say fuck you yeah um is is amazing and out of interest do you or have you ever had um have you ever kind of sought um mental health support to

18:43unknown host: to manage your kind of thoughts and feelings around it um I never have but um at iMedia um our CEO's other half is amazing and and she's actually now going and coming in and we're able to go and talk to her um and yeah she she's been fantastic to talk to actually yeah in the is she in the field yeah she's in the field uh she's professional and so yeah she's fantastic so recently yeah i have been you know in the last i'd say six to eight months been talking to her and opening up about you know what's been going on and she's been a great support and she's like my god and you know she she herself says you know people don't understand it and and get how hard it

19:24Lucy Foy: is yeah of course which that's mad like I it kind of it kind of makes me feel like when I have man flu and or there's another ailment you know and I'm pretty I'm pretty tough and resilient ever since I moved to the southeast with another half and I was told just just get on with it just man up but to hear that is you know um it's incredible um I guess throughout your career has there been a moment where you've you found yourself in a position either personally or professionally where things have not necessarily been quite right or there's been challenges and you've walked out a room and maybe there was something that you wish that you had said we often certainly I do I kind of wish I would have said that yeah and not necessarily in a negative way but you know uh it might have been around a time when you were taking on too much or when someone you know had in a personal capacity said something to you which just didn't necessarily gel like has it been any of those moments oh definitely early on I've got two very good

20:36unknown host: examples actually early on in my career I was going to hospital as I mentioned for these infusions it was once a month for four hours um and I remember my manager at the time sort of turned around was like well when's this going to stop like when when when's this going to get like when will you get better and I was like well I'm not going to get better this is just the start of it for me at the moment um so I think because I was so young I didn't say anything and I was quite shocked with what they said to me uh that I kind of was like oh god and then I felt guilty because I was going to that hospital appointment on the Friday or something um so yes that that was quite hard at the beginning because I was still so young and still dealing with the disease and understanding it myself and then all the repercussions of taking these drugs how they make you feel afterwards and then coming back into work and being okay and then another time I was told to go on an exclusion diet because with Crohn's sometimes it could be gluten or wheat that affects people so they put you on an exclusion diet where you don't really eat anything for two weeks um and you're kind of on like um a meal replacement so it's like a powder with water it's absolutely disgusting but it's to give your body a chance just to kind of heal and just clear everything has nutrients in it and yeah exactly to keep you going and we had a lunch with an agency and um I was like I don't think it would be really appropriate for me to come on this lunch and they were like no no you'll be fine to come on the lunch you can just eat something I was like no I can't I don't think you understand I really can't so I kind of sat there and I kind of thought to myself I've got three choices here I don't go I might lose my job if I do go and eat I'm just completely messing up my doctor's plans or the third option is right I just go and I sit there and get on with it so I went and I sat there and I didn't eat anything and drank water throughout the lunch but then I had the embarrassment of having to explain why I'm there not eating and getting involved with everybody so it's quite tough I mean I've shared it before I mean you

22:48Lucy Foy: know I haven't drunk in a long time and I feel very comfortable going to going to a work event if I want to leave I have the you know the choice to be able to you know walk out the door I equally have the choice and the opportunity to say no before um but it's taken me a long time to feel comfortable to know that I can say no yes and that that is a sentence um but I can equally go somewhere and not feel the need to stay for a long time do you think the industry's changed uh in the last I'll say five years you know we've gone through societal change um probably the the most accelerated period you know in terms of a more flexible working society I think we've become slightly more tolerant and understanding of different cultures perspectives do you think the industry has changed it is more accommodating more accepting I think it definitely has over the

23:47unknown host: years it's definitely become more accommodating more understanding for me I know now that I don't have to make sure I'm at every single leaving do although I'll try and go for a bit but I know kind If I'm home late, I know that would be detriment on me and my fatigue and how tired I'd be. But I know that you can go, you don't have to go. I think, yeah, from that perspective, it's definitely changed.

24:10Lucy Foy: Do you think that there's more to be done? And if you do think there's more to be done, and not necessarily about Crohn's, where do you think that starts? Does it start with senior leaders sitting in front of me right now talking about this stuff? or do you think it starts in other areas?

24:30unknown host: No, I think it's definitely from senior leaders. It needs to start because I suppose we're like the old school media and it's like you show up, you stay, you do this, you do that. Where I think nowadays it's like you don't have to go to everything. I think people understand that now. And I think, you know, you're not going to have a black mark put against your name because you didn't stay out to last orders or something like that. So, yeah, I just think that needs to sort of culture needs to change a bit. But, yeah.

24:56Lucy Foy: interesting so i want to go um switch up a gear just into and and i guess we have to be graphic here but like are there triggers you know in the workplace that you struggle with um so it might be the consumption of food or drink it might be as you said someone maybe saying something to you it might be uh the apprehension of oh I need to go on a long lunch I really I'm not you know I'm not I'm not prepared to do that or I'm not in a good place to do that are there regular workplace triggers that come up for you that do make your you know I guess your Crohn's

25:40unknown host: disease flare up more yeah uh sometimes there is sometimes it could be if I'm a bit stressed it might flare up a bit more but not really um but I think it's all about for me just sort of turning up from your team for your team supporting your team make sure you're there for your team and yeah I it there are things that maybe might trigger it a bit more but I just I have to be really careful what I do eat sometimes I do look at that and think oh god maybe I shouldn't eat that today because I know that might affect me but I just think personally I think it's just more like just want to be there support your team and and just kind of I don't know just show up

26:19Lucy Foy: really and and just yeah are there any are there any uh talk to me about some of the no-go areas

26:25unknown host: in terms of food I don't really have any so that's what when the exclusion diet happened um I kind of like went through everything I had to keep a diary I'd eat like cheese excessively you'd eat eggs excessively and then what happened was it wasn't anything that I was really they couldn't pinpoint what it was what I was eating that was causing it so in the end it was just um they said it was just the disease within me but I can literally have a granola and yogurt one day and I'll be fine and then the next day I can have the exactly same thing and it will just cause a flare-up oh wow and even the drugs that I'm on it just still will have a flare-up throughout and these flare-ups are pretty horrific you could be going to the toilet I'd say 20 times a day and your body's not digesting the food it's just literally coming straight out of you um and so that's exhausting because you're literally drained of everything um and you know when that happens and you're running to different meetings or you're about to do a presentation or you know all i'm thinking about is like my god right if i go here where are the different toilets on my route when i go to that agency where's that toilet if i need to quickly rush and rush the loo and things like that that's that's how you think yeah and i have a pass that i carry with me if i if I'm out and about and I quickly need to go and use the bathroom not that a lot of the places

27:44Lucy Foy: it works at as in you've made it yourself no no it's something you can get so like you have

27:50unknown host: sunflower yeah you can get this person yeah needs to get to the toilet quickly sort of things and that doesn't work in some places no I've been told sorry no this is just the staff and I'm like yeah I don't think you understand the the how desperate this is and that's is that from uh the charity or it's just from the charity yeah yeah wow yeah that's fascinating yeah and do you

28:14Lucy Foy: i guess when you when you have to show that do you feel awkward yeah of course it's again it's

28:19unknown host: not an attractive subject to talk about and it's embarrassing because like i you know i've literally got to go and use your toilet um yeah like a private members club yeah it really is but

28:29Lucy Foy: trust me you don't want to be no no no no no that's that's mad so so so really you know i guess over the last you know 20 minutes all i've heard is i don't let it get in the way yeah of anything yeah you know and i and i continue to live my life and i mean i mean i'm i'm a little bit in awe and i don't know i don't know if it's because it's the it's the blind faith and optimism that you have as to well it's not going to get in the way yeah you know even down to as you said before I just have to show up for my team yeah you know that to me I mean it's the epitome of a leader showing up differently doesn't matter what's going on you're you're there in your present was there a time then and maybe it was when you were 20 that you stood yourself in front of the mirror and and it metaphorically or physically you know but actually just said enough's enough or you know do you ever have to have a chat with yourself um every morning in the mirror sometimes

29:33unknown host: if you're not had a good night you've been up all night going to the toilet or you're in agony like last week I was hobbling around the office you know my hands were all sort of you know sort of tight and my you know and I'm just looking at myself like come on you can get up and do this today you can do this keep going yeah and I think mine was also when I had my bowel taken out um it was just the scars that you know lucky enough I did have keyholes so I have small scars but it's like those moments that you look at yourself and say come on you've got this you're stronger than this you can keep going um so yeah I just think it's just just be positive as much as I possibly can because like I said I just don't want it to control me and I think yeah pep talks all the time you got to keep doing it just put on that smile and keep going that it's tough it's tough to keep going like that I'm not gonna lie it is tough to keep going like that but yeah it's um yeah I mean it's draining as well no of course I mean I'm but I'm sitting here right now and and

30:38Lucy Foy: and you know i i know your partner so i see stuff on social and i think to myself you know when you're on those holidays that's probably a rare moment of not just r &r like getting away but actually it's probably a moment where i guess you can just be you yeah and you can just switch off yeah not have to keep the veneer up for everyone yeah definitely um you know if you do have a um a flare-up then you're in the comfort you know of wherever you are um yeah I think that's

31:13unknown host: that's a real importance and also having really supportive friends and family around you make such a difference um because I always say you know god I hate saying god I feel well today or I try not to say that because I could I'll just say it all the time and the amount of things that I haven't managed to go to the amount of times I've had to let my friends and family down because I'm not feeling well enough you know I won't go to certain events because I can't go at the weekend because I know that would just exhaust me and I won't be well for the working week if I'm being honest so I kind of prioritize make sure I'm showing up for the team and get you know make sure I'm here going to my meetings at the agencies and stuff and then the weekend comes I'm like I'm done I just need to hibernate and and that's the difference that's that's with the when the fatigue kicks in like you might say you're tired but my tide is completely different I'm I'm actually feeling like I can't say I'm tired anymore no of course you can everybody's tired no but like yeah it's a different it's like I'll be going to a meeting and I could just feel my body sort of closing in on itself and I can just feel it and it's like this sort of tightening and you just kind of and I go right I've done too much now it's just get home get get through your meeting get home and and rest and it's just a different exhaustion uh that's going because your body's just battling against itself constantly it's just a completely different fatigue and and do you have you met other people that suffer with Crohn's yeah I have met and colitis as well um colitis just affects different parts of the the um organs so yeah it's it yeah I have and and they they get we kind of support each other uh oh what drug are you on now oh i'm on this etc etc so yeah it is nice and i'm hoping from this yeah you know there'll be more people that will come out and

33:02Lucy Foy: want to talk about it and is there is there a lot of support um in in the industry or even outside for either educating people on how to uh manage it themselves or how to uh support colleagues

33:17unknown host: is there a lot out there uh there's Crohn's and colitis website when I first got diagnosed I signed up and there's like forums you can go and chat and I'm on this drug what does this do my god my side effects were x y and z like I had a drug that was called methotrexate and it was a small dose of chemotherapy but it's to help with the inflammation in your body but I was taking it for two years and then all of a sudden every night when I on a Monday evening you'd inject yourself and I'd end up being sick all the time or my hair would start getting really thin and fall out. And so you'd go on these forums and be like, has anyone else had these?

33:53unknown host: Like, you know, what's happening? And I know after a while my body just goes, enough's enough on certain drugs and then I get put on a new one. So maybe not so much in the industry, but there are forums and things out there. So you feel like you're not alone. Facebook groups, that sort of thing. And I think it is nice, especially when you first get it and you don't understand it so much and what the different drugs are that you're taking, what it's doing to your system, it is nice to know that you're not the only one.

34:20Lucy Foy: So if you meet someone for the first time, be it previous partners or if you join a new workplace, do you start to introduce yourself? Hello. How do you broach that? I think that sort of advice for people is to, because I think some might be ashamed of it, somewhat and how to uh communicate it how do you yeah I think to be honest I mean I was recently

34:48unknown host: working with a colleague and they I've I've repped them for years and then they kind of came on the sales side and working together and he was like I have known you all these years and I had no idea you've had any of this going on I was like yeah well I don't wear a badge and I don't go out and be like yeah hi I'm Lucy nice to meet I've got Crohn's um yeah so I suppose I I do tell people obviously eventually because they kind of end up seeing me in different situations and scenarios but yeah I probably just broach it as and when I feel comfortable too because I like I just don't want people to look at me differently which which is fine they can but you know if people don't understand it I think I really when I tell them I want to explain how it affects me and this is why I'm like this or if I need to work from home today it's not because I'm being lazy it's because I can't actually probably I'm hobbling around or yeah different scenarios like that so don't

35:44Lucy Foy: don't worry about just when you feel comfortable just to share that I think I think I'm I'm quite open with with addiction and uh it's not my opening gambit but I certainly it's a part of my DNA it's a part of my life you know I don't separate it my recovery is my life my life is my recovery the two are intertwined so I'm always curious to know how people are or how they feel comfortable about sharing you know what's going on for them I think I need to do it a lot more

36:17unknown host: I think I've started to be a bit more confident now and talk about it or I'll put a picture on my Instagram when I'm going for another infusion and stuff I don't do it all the time but I think I'm just I do think people need to understand it I think that's how I spotted it I think I'd

36:32Lucy Foy: spotted a picture yeah and I didn't know anything about this and and I think when I when I messaged you originally I thought to myself oh because you never know if someone wants to get involved and and I and and sometimes people feel obliged because if you know them or you know you maybe you've written a really polite no um but you you absolutely lean into it and I think that that's kind of testament to you know as we say like you know behind the title leaders showing up differently I think that's what it's about. Yeah, definitely. So we'll bring it to a close now. We like to give people a permission slip, which is, I guess, some kind of final words from you about, you know, is there something you'd like to share with people?

37:19Lucy Foy: I guess giving them permission to think, feel, do as a result of what you shared today and if they listen to this episode.

37:30unknown host: I think if you're suffering with a hidden illness, I think just know it's okay. And you're doing really, really well and keep going. And like, just let your colleagues know because they will understand, just explain it to them. And yeah, if you're not feeling great, just know that you're doing a great job. And if you need to have that day, you know, from working from home, or if you, probably for me, if you're not feeling great, take a day off sick. That's what I need to do myself, instead of pushing yourself but just know that you're doing a good job and you're not the only one out there and go and talk to people that I think that's the best thing talk to people open up to people and really understand what other people are going through in their lives amazing

38:13Lucy Foy: honestly Lucy thank you so much for joining today you know whilst I know that you'll be humble and say don't be silly like I'm hugely in admiration after everything you just shared there about every time I see you you have a smile on your face um you know and I think for people in the industry you know one in 12 13 people uh I'd be surprised if more yeah you know didn't take from this something to say actually yeah I suffer with it and it helps me to know that others do too and that's how they deal with it so huge huge thank you for joining um and um yeah look forward to uh Look forward to everyone hearing this episode soon.

38:54unknown host: Brilliant. Thank you very much for having me.

39:03Lucy Foy: Ayo Ekinwoleh here from the Athletic FC podcast.

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