30-year Search Leads to Pioneering Bowel Support Group
Chance encounter at St. Mark's Hospital provided revelation
David Davies (right) didn't let his condition stop him playing rugby
April 16, 2026
When David Davies was told at 21 that his large intestine would have to be removed to save his life, he faced the decision with the blunt realism that has since defined his outlook. “S**t happens,” he says — a phrase that became both a coping mechanism and a rallying cry for resilience.
The rugby-loving student’s world was turned upside down in the mid-1980s after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of ulcerative colitis. Within weeks, uncontrollable bleeding and rapid weight loss left him hospitalised. Surgeons warned that without immediate intervention, the disease could be fatal.
“I think mental attitude plays a big role in how people meet adversity,” says Davies, now chair of the Red Lion Group, a charity supporting people who have undergone an ileo-anal pouch procedure — a complex operation that removes the large intestine and creates an internal pouch from the small intestine, allowing patients to pass stool normally rather than through a stoma bag.
Determined to return to rugby, Davies resisted the idea of a permanent stoma. “My passion was to play rugby again, so when the doctors mentioned a permanent stoma I did everything possible to avoid it. I kicked up a fuss that caught the attention of a surgeon who suggested a pouch,” he recalls.
Between 1984 and 1985, he underwent three operations — at a time when the procedure was rare, few GPs understood it, and no support networks existed. Within six months of his final surgery, Davies was back on the pitch, playing at Twickenham and Cardiff Arms Park.
For the next 30 years, he managed his condition alone, without medical follow-up or peer support. Then, during a business visit decades later, he stumbled upon St Mark’s Hospital in Park Royal — the UK’s national bowel hospital and pioneer of pouch surgery. “I walked past a door saying ‘pouch nurses’ and did a double take,” he says. “It was a real revelation. I didn’t know they existed, and they were equally surprised to hear I’d been looking after myself for the past three decades.”
St Mark’s helped establish the Red Lion Group (RLG) in 1994, named after the hospital’s emblem of a red winged lion. Today, RLG is the largest pouch-support organisation outside the United States, with members worldwide and a Facebook community of more than 2,000.
“We work closely with the clinical staff at St Mark’s, who keep us well informed and validate our public statements and materials to ensure they’re consistent with the latest medical practice,” Davies explains. “For example, they’re helping us create an A-Z guide to pouch care for GPs so they can better support people in the community.”
His message to others living with the procedure is simple: “It’s important people realise they aren’t alone. There’s a community of ‘pouchees’ out there with shared experience that they can talk to.”
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