Behind the Pouch speaks to Dan 'Dry Dock' Shockley. Dan is a retired US Navy veteran who currently resides in Sacramento, California. Dan is an 8-year hereditary colon cancer warrior who underwent ostomy surgery for a permanent stoma back in July 2012. His vision is to share his journey on the importance of early colon cancer detection through local and national advocacy efforts and encouraging others to get screened. He is also a strong advocate for raising awareness for hereditary colon cancer.

Behind the Pouch speaks to Michaela Hayes (@MichaelaKHayes), presenter of iWork, a mid-morning weekday show on iRadio which broadcasts to over 370,000 listeners in Ireland every day. She only underwent her ostomy surgery in March 2020, and so is still adjusting to life with Paloma the Stoma. Michaela is an IBD and Chrohn’s advocate and has been open in sharing her IBD journey and experiences on Twitter documenting what life has been like post- surgery in lockdown and living with her Gran

Behind the Pouch speaks to Alisa Kuivasto (@stomazing) from Tampere, Finland. Having undergone stoma surgery twice in her relatively modest 21 years, she has been vocal in speaking out about her experience as an ostomate on topics such as anxiety and relationships, as well as highlighting the value of online ostomate communities in helping the wider community. Alisa also recently enrolled at nursing school in Finland and is currently in the first year of her studies.