FOR most taxi drivers, the thought of a Saturday night shift wearing a purple wig would fill them with dread.

But cabbie Steve Clark doesn’t care what pub-goers make of his purple locks as time is called at bars across Hampshire because for him, it represents the most precious gift – life.

Just three years ago the grandad-of-three fought for his life TWICE after he suffered a perforated bowel.

He spent four months in hospital and awoke following surgery with the news he would face a future with a permanent colostomy bag.

Severely depressed and undergoing more critical surgery resulting in the removal of his entire rectum and some of his colon, the 59-year-old saw no future.

But thanks to the charity Colostomy Association (CA), whose colours are purple, he was introduced to a support network of people all living with a colostomy.

“I began to feel like I was alone in the world.

“I was getting very, very depressed. Even just something falling on the floor, I’d burst into tears saying ‘that’s another disaster in my life.’ “But that was the point I found the CA and getting support from others living with the same thing really pulled me through.

“Now it’s my time to give something back.

“Having a colostomy is still a social stigma. People don’t want to talk about their toilet habits.”

But Steve is hoping to confront that stigma and squeamishness people feel when talking about bowel conditions when he shouts about it from his taxi as he dresses in CA colours complete with the wig to mark Colostomy Association Awareness Day on October 4.

Steve says his problem began when he suffered bad stomach pains for two weeks in February 2011 which got worse when he went to Toulouse with his wife, Cherry, to collect his son and daughter-in-law.

“It became worse and worse and worse. It was unbearable, a tremendous pain. I spent the time curled up in agony.”

When Steve returned home to Fareham he went to his GP in the morning, who immediately referred him to hospital.

By 3pm, he was laying in a hospital bed unconscious having emergency surgery and a colostomy bag fitted.

“It was very frightening.

“About six weeks into it, I turned around to my surgeon and said ‘when you first got your hands on me, how long do you reckon you had left?’ He said: ‘I think I had as much as six hours to play with.’ “It’s then it hits home. I wouldn’t have met two of my grandchildren.”

But the worst was not over.

Initially there was a chance there could be a reversal, but Steve developed sepsis in his abdomen.

He was sent home with drains attached to him and spent the following year going back into hospital for consultations until he went under the knife again in May 2012.

“What should have been ten-hour surgery, was 14 hours because I nearly died again. My blood pressure apparently plummeted through the floor.

“I woke up in intensive care and discovered I had my whole rectum removed, and the colostomy moved from the left to the right, so they took more colon out. The sepsis had effectively rotted everything away.

“Without the first operation I definitely wouldn’t have been here today. Without the second, I wouldn’t have the quality of life I have today. By necessity, I’d probably be reclusive because all the pipes and tubes would have been with me for life.”

Steve now has one wish – to break the toilet taboo to raise as much awareness as possible around those living with colostomy bags.

Thanks to an Internet selfie craze called ‘Get Your Belly Out’, people across the world with colostomy bags proudly bared their stomachs by posting selfies in an online photo sharing craze inspired by Crohn’s disease sufferer turned model Bethany Townsend, 23.

But Steve, who goes swimming without a top, goes to the gym three times a week, and refuses to hide his colostomy bag away, wants to ensure that publicity continues.

“Nobody should suffer in silence,” he says.

“I hope sharing my story can help others. I just want awareness and acceptance. The operation is no problem. In your head, that’s where the most damage is done. People can let them stop their life.

“I want to help people like myself come to terms with their new ‘friend’.

It has changed me most definitely but it has also changed my perspective on life and I have never been happier.”

To support Steve go to justgiving.com/Steve-Clark13 or text CASC47 £5 to 70070.

For more details

The Colostomy Association provides support to those who are new to living with a colostomy as well as those who have been colostomates for many years.

For more information go to colostomyassociation.org.uk