Biography
Caroline Bramwell - Inspirational Speaker
Caroline Bramwell
A wife and mother whose life was going downhill when she was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis - an inflammatory bowel disease - Caroline turned to sport after major surgery to have her large intestine removed and a permanent ileostomy formed.
The decision she made then, and those she’s made since, have brought her face-to-face with some tough obstacles and hard decisions to make. No-one truly realises their own resilience until they are put in difficult situations.
Caroline has turned her life around from being a self-confessed ‘couch potato’ who was petrified of being under water and couldn’t swim, to a tough ‘can do’ individual who competes in some of the world’s toughest events – Ironman triathlons.
A motivated individual, and a businesswoman for many years, Caroline applies what she’s learned on her journey and in her training, into the education and business arenas and inspires others to aim high.
Loo Rolls to Lycra: The Ironman Dreams of an IBD Sufferer
Loo Rolls to Lycra: The Ironman Dreams of an IBD Sufferer is the inspirational and insightful autobiography of Caroline Bramwell. With an encyclopaedic knowledge of every public toilet, bush or tree to dive behind, and after numerous extreme dietary regimes, Caroline elected to have her large intestine removed, and to live with a permanent ileostomy.
Caroline turned to sport after surgery, dispelling the medical profession’s ‘you can’t do that’ attitude by announcing her London to Paris 24hr cycle ride. Motivated to learn to swim by her children, her enthusiasm for triathlon was lit after meeting Ironman world champion, Chrissie Wellington.
Caroline has competed at all triathlon distances, including the full Ironman UK, and has become one of the UK’s leading ostomy triathletes. Loo Rolls to Lycra is the epitome of the self-belief that anything is possible.
