Forth FM’s Boogie reveals stomach condition ahead of fundraiser

HE’s best known for offering a perky start to the mornings on Forth One’s breakfast show but now DJ Boogie has spoken out for the first time about his battle with a serious stomach complaint as he prepares to help others with the same condition.

Boogie – real name Andy Bouglas – has suffered from Crohn’s Disease for nearly two decades, and is now set to host a fundraising spring ball at Prestonfield House for the charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK.

The 40-year-old presenter, who lives in the city centre, said: “I got ill in 1994. I was having a lot of pain when I was going to the loo and they thought it was a fissure, like a tear. I went to the doctor and they came back and said that they’d found something almost like an ulcer. They took a swab and it turned out it was Crohn’s so I was put on to medication straight away.”

Crohn’s is a form of inflammatory bowel disease which can result in abdominal pain, diarrhoea and sickness. The other most common form of IBD, ulcerative colitis, hit the headlines in December when Scotland football captain Darren Fletcher revealed he was to take a break from the sport to try to cope with the illness.

Boogie’s Crohn’s was kept under control until 1999, when he started being sick more and more frequently, and his weight dropped from 16 stone to ten.

He said: “The medicine I was on at the time wasn’t working as well as it should and my bowel lining was becoming inflamed and repairing itself again and again, so scar tissue built up and not very much was getting through. Eventually they said ‘We’ll fix this with an operation’.”

Doctors removed the damaged section of his bowel and reconnected it. He still suffers sometimes with bloating and stomach pain, and injects himself weekly with a drug called Methotrexate, which gives him flu-like symptoms for about 36 hours, but keeps the damage to his intestines under control.

The black-tie event at Prestonfield House on March 24 will feature a three-course dinner, music and auction with prizes including a crystal pendant from Laing’s the Jeweller, flowers every month of the year from Flowers by Maxwell, the chance to drive a BMW for the weekend, and lunch at Prestonfield with rugby legends Kenny and Iain “The Bear” Milne.

While he may seem the perfect choice to host the event, it was purely coincidence that Boogie was approached about the gig, as he was a friend of one of the organisers.

He said: “They didn’t know I had the condition but they said ‘Would you be prepared to host it?’ and I said ‘Yes, and here’s another reason why . . .’

“It’s going to be fun, it’s not a very sexy subject, bowel conditions, but at the end of the day we’re going to have great food, Prestonfield’s a great venue, and there will be dancing.

“You’d be surprised how many people are affected.”

For details of the event see www.prestonfield.com/Spring-Ball. To find out more about the charity, see www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk.