Getty ImagesLiberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper told the party conference that doctors had warned he had only four days to live unless he underwent major surgery.
The St Albans MP said his Crohn’s disease had progressed so much that he had dropped in weight to seven stone and he had been told he may never be able to work again.
“I lay in bed and cried. I cried for 17 hours straight. It felt like my world had fallen apart,” she said.
She told the conference that the NHS had saved her life but she worried about others going through similar experiences today.
“Can’t they even see their GP? How long will they have to wait for a scan? Are they confined to hospital corridors instead of wards, screaming in pain?”
She accused the previous Conservative government of “ruining” the NHS.
She promised the Liberal Democrats would work with a Labour government and spoke directly to the Health Minister: “Wes (Streeting), if you’re listening, please take our ideas on board or put forward your own ideas.”
“If we don’t see the right level of ambition and urgency, we will pursue it hard.”
“We as Liberal Democrats must continue to campaign to save the NHS and our health service as if our lives depend on it, because I know, and we know, many people’s lives depend on it.”
Speaking at a conference in Brighton, Ms Cooper described being rushed to hospital 12 years ago.
“I weighed about seven stone, my eyesight was failing, my heart rate was plummeting, my arms were turning black and blue and I was only getting nutrition through a feeding tube.”
She said the NHS not only saved her life but “gave me my life back”, adding: “Thanks to them I got my strength back, gained weight and am determined to embrace a new life.”
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in which the immune system becomes overactive and attacks healthy tissue in the intestine.
The lifelong disease, which affects around half a million people in the UK, has no known cure and common symptoms of Crohn’s disease include diarrhoea, abdominal pain and blood in the stool.
In his speech, Mr Cooper congratulated the Liberal Democrats on winning 72 seats in July’s general election, their highest total since 1923.
She began her speech with the triumphant words, “We made it,” and went on to recount to the audience her past concerns when the party was on the brink of extinction.
She recalled a conversation she had in 2020 in which party leader Sir Ed Davey told her that the Liberal Democrats could be destroyed if they lost half their votes to the Conservatives.
She said the party was in “survival mode.”
But now, following their strong performance in the election, she said, “you can’t even go to the toilet without bumping into a Lib Dem councillor”.
Looking to the future, she said the party would use its growing power in Parliament to push for its “top priority” of improving health and social care.
Sir Ed said at the weekend the Government was faced with a choice to “invest more in the NHS or accept continued decline”.
The party estimates that the NHS needs an extra £3.7 billion a year for day-to-day spending, plus an extra £1.1 billion a year in investment.
The company says it will fund £1.1 billion of the investment through borrowing, and the remaining £3.7 billion by closing a capital gains tax loophole.
