‘My embarrassing problem became my business!'

Mum-of-six Kelly Newton, 48, loved to be active, but issues with stress incontinence meant it wasn’t always easy – until she had an idea…

- RUBY DEEVOY, FRANCES LEATE

Running as fast as I could, I caught up with the other player, prised the ball away from her and whacked it into the goal with my hockey stick.

‘Yes!’ I cried out as my smiling teammates rushed over from the other side of the pitch and wrapped their arms around me. I’d just won us the game, and a surge of pride swept over me. Only, as I leapt into the air and let out my victory cry, my heart quickly thumped with panic as I felt my leggings become wet. I knew straight away what had happened, and my face burnt with embarrassment.

‘I’ve wet myself,’ I chuckled nervously, looking down at the wet patch that had appeared around my crotch. I always felt it was better to point it out to other people before anyone noticed, but it was still humiliating and awkward.

The reaction was usually mixed, and now, while one woman shot me a disapproving, disgusted stare, edging away from me, another woman gave me a knowing, sympathetic look. ‘I do that all the time when I run,’ she gasped, smiling at me in solidarity.

More than a joke

It was the summer of 2015 and incontinence was something I’d had to live with for years.

It started when I had my second son Mackie 13 years earlier. I can remember the midwife walking into my hospital room while I was changing his nappy and she turned the lights on and startled me. I jumped with surprise, but I was even more stunned when I looked down and saw a puddle of water on the floor.