Common stomach condition caused my bowel to EXPLODE – it was more painful than childbirth

A WOMAN was hospitalised after a common condition caused her bowel to rupture, leaving her just 12 hours from death. When Clare Large, 42, started experiencing extreme labour-like pains one night, she was rushed to hospital in an ambulance. Clare Large, pictured with husband Christopher and their daughters, was rushed to hospital with extreme stomach pain Credit: SWNS A CT scan revealed that the mum’s bowel had ruptured, leaving her just 12 hours from death Credit: SWNS The mum-of-two had a CT scan and was shocked to learn that 50 different pieces of faecal matter had become blocked in her bowel, which had caused it to rupture. What’s more, the tear resulted in the faecal matter spreading through her internal organs. Sign up for the Health newsletter Thank you! Clare shockingly learned that the rupture had been caused by a condition called diverticulitis – characterised by small pouches forming in the colon called diverticula. Doctors said she had been living with stage three of the disease, but was entirely asymptomatic. Diverticulitis affects the bowel and is most common in people over the age of 50. While most people don’t get any symptoms, those who do can experience pain in the lower left side of the tummy, tummy pain that gets worse after you eat, bloating and blood in your poo. According to the NHS, a perforation of your bowel is a rare but serious complication of diverticulitis. In Clare’s case, she had been “living a normal life” when the extreme stomach pain came on in October 2025 and she was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead in an ambulance Most read in Health The mum, from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, said: “I didn’t realise I had anything wrong with me. I didn’t feel ill or anything like that. “I went to bed one night as usual and woke up in the night with a pain in my stomach.” “I sent my husband a text as he was in another room and said I had a bad pain in my stomach and he said ‘don’t worry, try and get some sleep’. “I woke up in the morning and got out of bed and the pain was unbearable.” She continued: “I thought I was having a baby – it felt similar. “I told them at the hospital how much pain I was in and said I feel like something is ripping open inside of me. “They did a scan and detected a catastrophic rupture of the bowel and said if I’d been sent home I would have been dead within 12 hours 100 per cent.” The scan revealed she would need an immediate Hartmann’s procedure to remove the part of her bowel attached to her rectum. Clare had to have emergency surgery, where part of her bowel was removed Credit: SWNS Clare was left with a wound the size of a man’s head on her abdomen that she had to leave open to be able to heal Credit: SWNS Clare was fitted with an emergency stoma bag and was put into an induced coma due to the severity of the surgery. The mum, however, didn’t wake up after the operation and remained in a coma for three weeks. She explained: “I was unresponsive in the coma, had sepsis, peritonitis and double pneumonia. “Finally the doctors called my family in and said to my husband, Christopher, that they had tried very hard but I wasn’t responding to anything. “[They said] it was time that he started to prepare the children for the worst.” Doctors told Clare’s family that there was one thing they hadn’t tried yet – taking her ventilator out and putting in a tracheostomy to see if she could breathe. Thankfully, the mum woke up two days later. She remained in hospital for six weeks after this and had to learn to walk again. Pictured with her daughters here, Clare broke both her legs and was inactive for about a year, which doctors thought could be a potential cause of her diverticulitis Credit: SWNS What is diverticulitis? Diverticular disease and diverticulitis are conditions that affect the large intestine (bowel), causing tummy pain and other symptoms. They’re caused by small bulges or pouches in the walls of the intestine called diverticula. Most people will get some diverticula as they get older, but the majority won’t get any symptoms. For those who do get symptoms, these can include: pain in the lower left side of your tummy (abdomen) – a small number of people get pain on the right side tummy pain that gets worse after you eat, and gets better after you poo or fart constipation diarrhoea blood in your poo bloating If your intestine becomes infected or inflamed, it’s called diverticulitis. You may also have symptoms such as: severe, constant tummy pain high temperature bleeding or passing slime (mucus) from your bottom Source: NHS Speaking about her injury, Clare said: “The wound in my stomach was the size of a man’s head, it was huge and I had to leave the wound completely open with no staples. “I had to heal the wound from the outside in.” Today, the wound is around the size of a “10 pence piece”. In terms of Clare’s diverticulitis, she explained: “The only thing doctors could draw a link to was the fact I’d previously broken both my legs seriously and had a period of inactivity for about a year. “You’ve got to keep mobile to keep your bowel moving healthily. “All the nurses, doctors and surgeons said it’s been a miracle – genuinely, those were the words that have been used. “It’s a miracle I’ve survived it.” Clare’s next surgeries are set to take place once she is two years into recovery. She will eventually need to have her stoma reversed and her incisional hernia repaired – which she was left with after her emergency surgery and has left her reliant on a wheelchair. The mum said: “I was very blessed and lucky to have the skilled surgeon and the NHS staff I had and that’s the only reason I believe I survived.” Comment now