The show must go on…

Mathew Boyd-Skinner has, in his words, ‘had tummy issues since he was 8 years old’. Now 36, in that time he’s dealt with more than his fair share of hospital visits having courageously battled Chron’s disease, ulcerative colitis, fistulas, extreme blood loss (anaemia), and of course, life-changing stoma surgery, not once – but twice.

With over 40 operations under his belt (quite literally, too), having lived with a j-pouch, Mat now lives with a permanent ileostomy which he’s affectionally named ‘Homer the Stoma’, a reference to The Simpsons.

Mat’s stoma is one he actually had to ‘fight for’ as he tells us there was initially much hesitation to perform the procedure from his treating medical team.

“I spent years fighting for it,” Mat says, explaining once it eventually did happen, it ultimately ended up being ‘life-changing surgery’.

Long before that though, and for a long time, Mat suffered an array of debilitating, life-limiting symptoms that many ostomates would be all too familiar with.

Mat’s story starts with Chrohn’s disease which he says ‘eviscerated his whole GI tract’. The pain, as you can imagine, was severe and unrelenting. Then came the ulcerative colitis, diagnosed at age 9, which attacked his already-damaged large bowel. At this time, he was trialled on increasingly larger doses of prednisone (steroids) to stop the bleeding from his lower end,  but every time the dose was decreased, he says, the bleeding would return again.

At age 9 a two-week stay in Westmead Children’s Hospital eventually necessitated a full colectomy and a stoma formation; that is, his entire colon was removed and a colostomy created, though only for eight months.

“Then I had a j-pouch surgery, and everything was back to some sort of normal, though I was going to the bathroom about ten times a day,” Mat says. “That was just my life until I was 31 years old.”

In 2016, aged 27, Matt felt a lump on his bottom and was in ‘a fair amount of pain’. Originally dismissed by the emergency department and his old surgeon, Mat was finally diagnosed with fistulas, or perianal Crohn’s, in his rectum once he was assessed by another surgeon at the RPA.

“He said I need to have surgery sooner rather than later,” Mat says, explaining he broke down into tears and was ‘a mess’ at his appointment on his own without anyone for support. “I remember ringing my parents and trying to hold it together to tell them what was going on, but I broke down in less than 30 seconds.”

Understandably, like many ostomates, Mat dealt with mental health issues during this time. It is, after all, a lot to deal with.

“My mental health was really bad throughout this time,” Mat explains. “I had support from my beautiful family and very loving and beautiful friends. They never gave up on me, even when I told them I wanted to give up and end my life.”

“There’s one friend in particular who’s never left my side during this six-and-a-half-year journey,” he adds. “This friend of mine would go on to spend hours with me at the hospital and taking me to appointments – they never gave up on me, even when I told them I wanted to give up.”

“So I want to say a huge thanks to the most amazing friend I could ever ask for. I love you very much for all your support.”

Buoyed by the endless love and support from his family, friends, and partner, in the next few years, Mat endured multiple more operations on his fistulas – including seton bands to keep the fistulas open – and even tried two different treatments for his condition. Explaining how he tried injecting Humira – a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug approved for the use for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis – himself at home, he became very unwell as the treatment went on.

“It worked for only so long before it stopped working almost altogether,” he says; another scenario that would be all-too familiar with other ostomates.

Mat’s doctor then switched him to a drug called Infliximab, an infusion.

“These infusions were done at Royal North Shore Hospital every eight weeks to start off with and then we went to every six weeks because I needed the treatment more often,” Mat explains, adding how the treatment wasn’t working as well as he would have liked so he went ‘onto a very high dose’ for treatment every eight weeks.

Funnily enough, Mat ended up rather enjoying his infusion days. After all the pain and suffering, it was amazing to finally have some relief in his debilitating condition.

“I loved infusion day,” Mat laughs. “I had the best nurses!”

While on this treatment, Mat was able to go on the trip of a lifetime to New York City.

“What a wonderful ten days I had there,” he says. “I was healthy the whole time and it was the best holiday I have ever had.”

Unfortunately, Mat’s newfound joy at living fairly symptom-free was short-lived as his treatment plan began to fail again. His injections which ‘worked until they didn’t’ didn’t stop the severe blood loss he began to experience again. And though he had enough blood loss to be considered anaemic, Mat was fortunate he says that he never needed to get a blood transfusion.

At this point, as most ostomy patients would be familiar with, Mat’s story involves quite a lot of advocating for himself.

“Doctors were initially dismissive regarding the lump on my bottom,” he explains as an example. “But I was eventually diagnosed with fistulas.”

Similarly, Mat started advocating to have a stoma again, but he was continually dismissed.

“I spent four years fighting for it,” Mat says, explaining the initial hesitation from his treating team to opt for the stoma solution despite his constant bleeding, pain, and failing treatment options. “It was my last resort.”

In November 2021, Mat had his life-changing stoma surgery at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney.

“I felt very nervous and scared because I knew what was going to happen while I was there,” Mat says. “I was getting upset because I knew there was no turning back now, for this was me for the rest of my life.”

Thankfully, the surgery went well and Homer the Stoma, an ileostomy, was created.

“Recovery was a bit rough to start off with,” Mat admits. “I didn’t accept that I had a stoma again for probably four or five days, but the nurses and my stoma nurse were amazing,” he explains.  “The support from them got me through and I was out of hospital a week after my life-changing operation.”

Since his surgery, Mat says life has been amazing. With incontinence a thing of the past, a newfound ability to travel well, and having the energy to live life again, Mat, an avid singer, actor, and dancer, is back onstage performing in musicals again.

Having played the Mayor of Munchkinland in the Berowra Musical Society’s production of The Wizord of Oz in 2045, Mat is a general committee member on the North Shore Theatre Company and in 2025 even directed his first musical.

“I was the assistant director of the North Shore Theatre Company’s production of We Will Rock You” Mat says proudly.

For Mat, having a stoma has been a new lease on life.

“To say I’m thrilled is an understatement,” he says. “I’m over the moon because all my dreams are coming true and I’m healthy. Being healthy just doesn’t feel right at times because I suffered for so long, but not anymore.”

Personally, Mat is a proud gay man and has been with his loving and supportive partner Simon for ten years and married for four.

Still, it hasn’t all been sunshine and rainbows, with Mat telling us how he has faced illegal discrimination in the workplace due to his stoma and condition which left him feeling, ‘depressed, guilty, and anxious’.

“Pre-surgery, I was demoted after making some mistakes at work, which only occurred due to the severe pain and stress I was in.”

A naturally hard worker, creative, and passionate, Mat has now switched jobs and concedes he ‘wouldn’t be who I am if I hadn’t been through that discrimination’.

His advice?

“As hard as life gets, never give up,” he says says. “I’m a big musical theatre person so my favourite saying in life is the show must go on.”

That, and a sense of humour, he adds.

“What’s wrong with me is serious, but you have to look at it with a comedic side,” Mat says. “It’s just shit, pun intended!”

And, as his ‘lovely’ STN Rachel at the Royal North Shore always says, “‘I’ve got a bum on my tum!’” A saying he’s taken and run with.

Indeed, Mat credits the support from stoma nurses as helping him get through it all.

“They are extremely helpful and supportive,” he says. “I’d like to thank Rachael, my stoma nurse, in particular as she hasn’t been just a stoma nurse, she’s been a counsellor.”

These days, ‘it’s onwards and upwards’ for Mat.

“I’m going to make sure that more dreams come true in this life of mine with Homer the Stoma.”

Since becoming an ostomate, Mat is fiercely passionate about spreading awareness about ostomies and the conditions which precede them.

“My mission in life is now to help others,” he says. “I’d like to write a book for kids, to spread awareness – something that says it’s okay to have something wrong with you, it’s all about acceptance.”

Having already spoken at two stoma Education Days, Mat would like to speak at more.

“I’d like to speak in schools, too,” he adds, with his speeches addressing common mental health concerns in ostomates also. “It’s okay to have depression and anxiety, or whatever it is you have.”

Today, Mat is healthy and well and is blessed with an extremely supportive workplace, working happily as a barista when he’s not performing or working in musical theatre.

“I’d like to thank Anthony, Lisa and Bean Everywhere for their support throughout the years and having an understanding of my condition,” he says. “I couldn’t ask for better bosses honestly”.

This support and understanding are something Mat is lucky to have in spades from his family and friends.

“I couldn’t ask for a better family,” Mat says. That and being blessed to have ‘very loving and beautiful friends by his side whose endless support he also credits with getting and staying well.

But the most amazing part of it all?

“Since I’ve had my stoma,” Mat says, “I feel like I’m cured.”

December 2025