03/09/2025
Ricky is one of our Free Shop volunteer managers who works extremely hard to support people in need! He is a real gem of our charity. He never stops amazing us with his kindness, compassion and determination! He is a true example of how to keep fighting regardless of what life throws at you! He has been with us for over a year now , a few months ago his stoma bag has also joined our family aswell. We are extremely proud of Ricky’s way of looking at life!
He also is the founder of our weekly Men’s Mental Health group “MATE HERNE BAY” the Group is run every Sundays at 3pm and supports loads of men who are struggling mentally. Ricky has turned his own struggles into something really special and important! We love you Ricky and Stoma bag❤️
“My stoma and Me” – Volunteer
Ricky’s story poem he wrote for our “Power Of People “ project which is kindly funded by Kent Community Foundation ❤️❤️❤️❤️
My stoma and me – Volunteer
There's a small pouch beside my hip
A quiet companion on this trip—
Not the journey I had planned to take
But the path I walk for my body's sake
At first it felt like foreign ground
This new anatomy I'd found
Tapes and seals, a daily dance
Learning steps I'd left to chance
The mirror showed a different me
A scar, a bag—my new reality
I mourned the body that I'd known
Felt somehow less, somehow alone
But healing comes in gentle waves
Teaching us how courage saves
Not just our lives, but how we see
The many ways that we can be
This bag, it gave me back my days
Released me from that painful maze
Of illness that had held me tight—
Now I can sleep throughout the night
I've learned to dress with careful thought
To swim again (which can't be bought)
To laugh until my sides would ache
To love myself for my own sake
There are moments when it's hard
When confidence feels deeply scarred
But then I think of all I've gained—
My life, my health, my joy reclaimed
The pouch may change how I appear
But not the person living here
I am not less, I am not shame—
I am myself, and that's my name
So here's to all who walk this road
Who carry this invisible load:
You are strong, you are enough
Made beautiful by being tough
We are the ones who chose to live
Who found we had much more to give
Than what we thought before we knew
That scars can make us brave and true.
