Crohn’s and Colitis awareness week: Musician Tom Speight on the condition that could have ended his career

After two years off for treatment and rehabilitation, the singer has made a remarkable turnaround

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Tom Speight has had quite a year.

The London-based singer-songwriter's new single ‘Love’ is currently nestled on the Radio 2 playlist, millions of streams on Spotify and his trio of EPs all charted in the iTunes top 10, and song credits on tracks by everyone from indie bands to X Factor finalists.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for Speight. Following a brief glimmer of success working with the likes of Mumford and Sons and Travis, was forced to take a two-year break from music for emergency surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation process after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease.

"To be honest it’s been… I don’t want to use the cliché term ‘a rollercoaster’, but it’s been very up and down," he tells The Independent. "Up until that point where I had to have surgery, I never got into full health. I was probably about three stone lighter – I looked awful. No appetite, lack of nutrition, just not really living a life – feeling nauseous all the time. It was like the worst hangover."

Speight was recording at Universal when he realised that something wasn’t right, but believes the adrenaline of that experience helped him to finish the session. Three days later, he was admitted to hospital for an emergency operation – his bowel perforated, and he was diagnosed with septicaemia.

"Everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong," he says. "I needed another operation to follow up the emergency one – I was out of action for a long time. After the second operation I was up and down again finding the right balance with the medication.

"Basically, all the parts of my bowel that had ulcerated, they had to take them out. So I was lucky to survive it really, it was a seven hour operation. It couldn’t have come at a worse time, I had a lot of industry interest, I had gigs booked. I was more worried about telling my manager at the time that I was going to have to cancel things than actually having the operation. It was bizarre looking back at it.”

He goes on to describe the rehabilitation process and how it affected him: "It was like a new lease of life after the operation. But then I had to have a second operation, and my relationship at the time broke down because of that. She thought it was the last operation, and it was such a long recovery… but, you know, it kind of gave me all the songs to write about.

"Also, I’m probably the least rock n' roll person because of the operations. I don’t really drink, I think you have to be quite strict with yourself to be healthy. Well it’s not actually that healthy, it’s a white-based diet, nothing spicy or you think might cause an irritation. Lots of bland food.

"I had to do lots of exercise, because they tore into my stomach… that’s another reason why I was out of action for the gigs, you know, even just the physical movement would be too much. But I gradually built my strength up over time, which helped."

Does he have any advice for any other musicians in his shoes?

"Get it managed. It sounds easy, but it’s really difficult to find the right team. It took me years to find the right doctor, the right medication, have a plan… getting it diagnosed didn’t take long as it was so severe, but getting it under control took about three years.

"It was a trial and error experience, there’s so much medication out there, they start you out on the weakest, but that didn’t really tame it, then you’re moved on to steroids, try out a different medication…

He describes his return to music in January as "a bit of a whirlwind. "The touring, that’s probably the best thing – we did 80 gigs, we went to Europe with Seafret, we toured the UK three or four times.

"Then also the writing – working with Turin Brakes has been pretty great, I’ve written on their top 20 album. And I suppose just being a musician full time has been the highlight really – I know it’s a cliché."

While the diagnosis has only had a small effect on his live shows, Speight says he looks at other bands and feels, on occassions, that they’re having more fun than him.

"They’re leading more of a carefree existence. But if anything, because of the experiences I’ve had up to that point, I just enjoy the show more because I’m lucky to do this."

Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week runs from 1-7 December – for more information click here. Tom Speight’s new single ‘Love’ is out now