Born in Tottenham, North London, towards the end of the Second World War, Liz has moved around, spending part of her life in Singapore after getting married before settling down to live in Linton, just outside Cambridge. She had spent most of her life working in libraries and took up a “retirement job” working in Linton’s community library.
Liz began with severe stomach pains in her 30s, after having her three children.
“My doctor carried out various tests, but coeliac disease wasn’t very well known then, so I wasn’t tested for that. I was quite tired, but I just carried on because you have to when you’ve got three children and a husband, don’t you?”
Liz tried not to let her condition get in the way, making sure she found time for activities she enjoyed, such as skiing and dancing, and it wasn’t until her late 50s, prompted by her friend’s questions, that she went back to the doctor.
This time, her GP in Linton did a blood test, which identified advanced coeliac disease. A biopsy at Addenbrooke’s Hospital confirmed this – but also found pre-cancerous cells.
“I used to see [my consultant] every year for an endoscopy. Wasn’t I lucky!” she says. After about 10 years, she was given the all-clear for cancer and discharged.
Since her diagnosis, Liz has been on a strict, gluten-free diet, which had an effect almost immediately. She isn’t tempted to have even the smallest amount of gluten now.
“Some people say, ‘Have a little bit’, but no, it’s a strict diet, because you don’t know what it’s doing to your insides. It’s just mind over matter, isn’t it? You can’t have it, end of story.”
She joined a Coeliac UK support group in Bury St Edmunds, which helped her meet others like herself, share tips and find good places to eat that did gluten-free options. She was talked into becoming the Secretary, with her husband agreeing to become Membership Secretary – they have been doing this now for 20 years.
It was through this group that Liz met Professor Elizabeth Soilleux from the University of Cambridge.
“Elizabeth came to our meeting to talk about her research. It was quite fun because she showed us pictures of biopsies and said could we guess which were coeliac and which weren’t? It wasn’t easy.”
Liz is impressed with the use of AI to diagnose coeliac disease. Her referral for an endoscopy and the subsequent diagnosis happened relatively quickly. Not everyone is as fortunate.
“You hear stories from other people, and they’ve waited a long time. They go back and forward to the doctor’s often, with various odd symptoms, and perhaps the doctors don’t always test them for that.
“Anything that makes the system quicker must be a good thing, because once you’ve been diagnosed and you know you can’t have gluten, then you know what to do.”
