I love my stoma!! now I get out and play gigs

Guitarist can't believe he put off despite his teenage hell with colitis

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

AN inspirational young musician has opened up about a crippling disease which wrecked his teenage years.

But now Cairn Murphy, 20, is living life to the max and has begun gigging since he was fitted with a stoma.

Cairn, from Carluke, Lanarkshire, admitted he was always against having a stoma fitted - but since it became the only option to save his life he has never looked back.

Just six months on from his life-changing op, he said: "It is the best thing to ever happen to me in my life."

Speaking on Inflammatory Bowel Disease Awareness Day, Cairn told how he had ulcerative colitis, a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum.