St Albans MP Daisy Cooper has opened up about her battle with Crohn's disease, revealing that doctors gave her just four days to live unless she underwent major surgery.

Speaking at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton earlier this week, she said her weight dropped to seven stone and left her fearing she'd never be able to work again.

As part of a speech focussing on her party's approach to the NHS, the MP recounted being rushed to hospital 12 years ago.

She said: "I lay in my bed and sobbed. I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed for 17 hours straight. I felt like my world had fallen apart.

"My eyesight was failing. My heart rate had plummeted. And my arms were black and blue. I was fed only through a feeding tube."

The 42-year-old said the NHS not only saved her life but "gave me my life back".

But with the health service under pressure, she expressed fears that her constituents in St Albans may be unable to receive the same level of care that she received, saying: "Can they even get an appointment with their GP? How long have they been waiting for a scan? Are they stuck in a hospital corridor - rather than a ward - as they scream with pain?".

Suggested Reading:

Accusing the previous Conservative government of leaving healthcare "on its knees", she vowed to use her role as Lib Dem deputy leader to hold the Labour administration to account.

She said: "We must continue to campaign to save our NHS and care like our lives depend on it. Because I know, and we know, that so many people’s lives really do.

“You don’t have freedom, if you’re on a waiting list so long that your world shrinks and you’re stuck hobbling at home between a couple of rooms."

Crohn's disease impacts around half a million people in the UK and there is currently no known cure.