Fame Academy's Carrie Grant says chronic Crohn's disease has inspired her work

Former 'Fame Academy' star Carrie Grant is grateful to have had Crohn's disease because it has inspired all her work.

The 57-year-old vocal coach has lived with the inflammatory bowel disease for the past four decades, and nearly died from the condition in 1998.

Carrie's varied career has seen her represent the UK at the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest as part of the group Sweet Dreams with their song 'I'm Never Giving Up', appear as a judge on BBC talent shows 'Fame Academy' and 'Comic Relief Does Fame Academy' and work behind the scenes on ITV star search show 'Pop Idol', as well making regular appearances on 'The One Show' and co-hosting children's programme 'Carrie and David's Popshop' with her husband David Grant.

Without her struggles with Crohn's, Carrie doesn't think she would have achieved half as much as she has in her life, including her charity commitments.

Appearing on podcast 'The Doctor Will Hear You Now’, she said: "I think I've led this life because I've got Crohn's. It's made me want to go on trips all over the developing world, where there are no toilets, and just go ‘I will work this out’, when I've got to go to the loo in a bush, which I have. I am like, you know what, this is not gonna hold me back.

"I feel like this chronic disease has given me gratitude for life, because next month, I could get a flare up and end up in hospital. "In 1998, I nearly died of Crohn's, and I think back to those times, and I'm like, ‘I gotta live this life’. I appreciate it. That's why I've done all I've done. Every time, I’m like, ‘Let me campaign about something’, ‘let me write something’, ‘let me make something’, ‘let me be a mentor and a coach’, ‘let me perform all these things!’. I just want to grab life and do it.”

Carrie - who has four neurodivergent children with David - looks bask on her hospitalisation with Crohn's as a defining moment in her life which inspired her work as a "writer and songwriter".

She said: "I think when I spent those two months in hospital at the age of 23, it just changed me. It made me say: I am not accepting that this is the end, and if it means I'm in a hospital bed, then I'll just become a writer, a poet, a songwriter; things I can do that are less mobile… I want to lead that big life because you just don't know how long you've got. I feel so grateful for life."

'The Doctor Will Hear You Now’ podcast is hosted by practising NHS GP and media medic Dr Zoe Williams.

In partnership with Bupa, the 10-episode podcast series - produced by Insanity Podcasts, part of Insanity Group - sees Dr Zoe joined by celebrity guests who have been impacted by a range of health conditions.