Actor Jeff Hordley faced a brain aneurysm at New Year but has been battling a serious health condition for many years
Emmerdale bad boy Cain Dingle got fans worried over New Year when he had a brain aneurysm.
But in real life actor Jeff Hordley, 44, also has a debilitating illness.
Here he reveals how he has fought Crohn’s Disease with the help of wife Zoe Henry who is also in the hit soap.
Lying in a hospital bed being told I had Crohn’s Disease was one of the most frightening experiences of my life.
When I was just nine, my mum had died from the very same illness. My reaction was, ‘Am I going to die too?’
It was a week before my 26th birthday. I’d suffered stomach cramps and diarrhoea for six years but it had never crossed my mind there was a connection.
My GP had put the symptoms down to Irritable Bowel Syndrome and prescribed anti-spasmodic medication.
But moving from my home in Oldham to drama school in Manchester meant moving surgeries. Each new doctor just accepted my explanation of IBS.
Over time my symptoms worsened and in my last year of school, at 25, I was really ill.
As well as the diarrhoea and cramps I’d have episodes of horrendous stomach pains and vomiting.
I dropped from 12 stone to nine – which is a lot when you’re nearly six foot – and I was really thin and pale.
Eventually I went to consult a new GP who arranged for me to be admitted to Manchester Royal Infirmary for tests.
These included an endoscopy (a camera down the throat) and colonoscopy (a camera into the large bowel).
I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease – which frightened me and my family as they’d seen what my mother went through.
I was a young boy when she passed away in 1979, but I’ve since learned her death was caused by a complication of surgery rather than the illness itself.
The doctors assured us things had moved on and it’s now treated with steroids and anti-inflammatories to calm the bowel and prevent damage.
However, they told me I’d need surgery to remove the diseased part of the large bowel.
And they warned I might need a colostomy bag, on a temporary basis, to give the gut a chance to heal.
That was a big deal. Zoe (who plays vet Rhona Goskirk in Emmerdale) and I had been together for only 18 months after meeting at drama school.
I was worried about how she’d react. But she was brilliant and said, ‘Listen, this is going to be fine’.
I came around from surgery relieved to learn I hadn’t needed a colostomy bag after all.
Doctors had removed the damaged part of my bowel and rejoined the healthy sections on either side.
I was left with a big impressive scar and put on medication to prevent damage to the bowel. But, as far as I was concerned, that was it. I left hospital thinking, ‘I’m fine’.
Although I still suffered from mild tummy cramps and diarrhoea, things were OK for the next seven years. In 2000, I joined Emmerdale as Cain Dingle.
Then, one night in 2002, everything came to a head when I went to see Zoe perform at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
The night before I’d noticed blood when I went to the toilet and felt a bit under the weather.
In the interval, I went to get drinks for our families. Suddenly the bar started spinning and I thought, ‘I’m going to pass out’.
I ended up on all fours before collapsing – haemorrhaging blood from my back passage.
I was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary.
Doctors explained that a relapse in the Crohn’s had affected scar tissue from the surgery.
They said flare-ups were common – which was news to me.
I spent five days in hospital on steroids to calm things down. I started to think, ‘I really have to address this’.
Doctors wanted to give me quite strong immunosuppressive drugs to keep the Crohn’s under control.
But there are a lot of side-effects, which worried Zoe and me because we were thinking of starting a family.
Instead, I began looking at homeopathic medicine and acupuncture.
A nutritionist put me on a strict detox diet for two months – no alcohol, sugar, meat, wheat or dairy.
It was tough but it worked. Zoe and I stopped eating processed foods, got an allotment, and cooked everything from scratch.
I’d been smoking since 19 but cut down before stopping completely. We also kept drinking to the occasional glass of wine.
I had just one relapse in 2003 where I ended up back in hospital for a couple of nights with a blocked bowel.
But since then I’ve been well. Later that year, Zoe and I got married and, two years later, our daughter Violet was born followed by son Stan two years afterwards.
There is a hereditary link to Crohn’s so they have a five per cent chance of being affected. But I’m trying to be positive. My two brothers and sister haven’t got it.
I do believe there’s a time and a place for heavy drugs but not on a regular basis, especially when you can make such a difference with diet and lifestyle.
In 2001 I was persuaded to join the TV Times Running Team by Chris Chittel, who plays Eric Pollard.
He recruits a lot of cast and crew for the Virgin Money London Marathon every year for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.
Now I’ve done five marathons and in April I’ll be doing my sixth. My fastest time was 3 hours 30 minutes.
Not only does running help keep me well and stress-free but it helps my head as well.
I became an ambassador for Crohn’s and Colitis UK partly in memory of my mother but also to tell people that a diagnosis is not all doom and gloom.
Talk about it to your friends, loved ones and family. Bowels are a taboo subject but we need to get over embarrassment.
I’ve been suffering for most of my life so I’m quite happy talking about bowels and using the word “poo”!
Rosannah Honey of Crohn’s and Colitis UK says:
Crohn’s Disease is an auto-immune condition that causes the gastrointestinal tract to become inflamed.
Ulcers and scarring are left on the wall of the intestine and you are unable to digest food, absorb nutrients and eliminate waste in a healthy way.
Symptoms during a flare-up can include stomach pain, diarrhoea, weight loss, severe fatigue, anaemia, mouth ulcers, plus mucus, pus or blood in diarrhoea.
The disease is lifelong but symptoms can wax and wane. There is no cure, but drugs and surgery can give long periods of relief.
It’s thought to be caused by a combination of genetic factors and an abnormal immune system reaction to certain bacteria in the gut (possibly triggered by a virus, bacteria, diet, smoking, or stress).
Crohn’s is estimated to affect one in every 650 people in the UK – a total of 120,000. But symptoms can be mistaken for IBS.
Anyone with bowel symptoms combined with weight loss or rectal bleeding should be referred to hospital for further investigation.
Diet changes and alternative medicines can help, but you must get guidance from your GP first.
- To support Jeff in the London Marathon go online to leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/donation
- For more information call 0845 130 2233 or visit crohnsandcolitis.org.uk
