Jeane Trend-Hill: back to Islington

Everyone has an #energystory 5.

Q: How do I find out more about climate change from a health perspective?

Each Energy Story interview is inspired by the questions local people ask Islington Faces about cutting carbon/tackling climate change. For this interview our Q considers how climate change is disrupting health patterns. We all know that Covid-19 occurred due to human pressure on natural resources (eating a wild species) but what else might happen? From food to weather the climate crisis has an impact on people wherever they live.

Everyone has an energy story. Many Islingtonians move to Essex, but some (including Islington Faces) make the journey the other way . Meet photographer Jeane Trend-Hill who recently moved back to Islington. Here she shares how she’s coping with a painful bowel disease, colitis (it’s world IBD day on 19 May), her passion for cemeteries and her thoughts about the health impacts of climate change. Edited by Nicola Baird. Photos by Kimi Gill

Q: What’s your connection to Islington?
I have been living in Islington for the past five and a half years. Previously I lived in Essex but when my marriage ended in domestic abuse because of my illness, I moved back here. I was actually born in Islington as my late parents lived in Barnsbury Road.

I couldn’t believe it when I moved back to Islington and saw the huge amount of cyclists. I thought it was like the Tour de France and they must be in training, but it’s just because more people are getting on their bikes.

Q: How do you keep busy?
I am a volunteer Ambassador for a Crohns and Colitis (Inflammatory bowel disease) network. I have colitis and when I was first diagnosed, I didn’t know anyone who had the condition. The network helped me a lot and now I can give something back. Having someone tell me I helped them or in some cases literally saved their life makes it all worthwhile. I’m also a Cemetery Historian, photographer and artist. I photograph Victorian cemeteries to help preserve our history and heritage. Before I became sick, I was an actress and studied Mortuary Science and Forensics. www.mycrohnsandcolitisteam.com

I find cemeteries fascinating; they are filled with beautiful monuments and so much history. I have always enjoyed photography, but my obsession with them began as a child when I visited family member’s graves with my parents. Whilst the adults arranged flowers I would wander off and look in amazement at all the angels, doves and crosses. I was struck by their beauty and as I got older, I began photographing them. Now I am involved with their preservation and restoration. My cemetery photography page has images from Bunhill Fields and St Pancras & Islington Cemetery: www.facebook.com/jeaneheadstonehunter

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Places Jeane Trend-Hill loves in Islington

• Camden Passage for the quirky shops and antiques, Get Stuffed at 105 Essex Road (I have a few pieces of Victorian taxidermy!) and Dress for Less, 391 St John Street for pre-loved designer pieces.
• My favourite building is Old Finsbury Town Hall, Rosebery Avenue. I’ve been inside a few times and it’s absolutely stunning.
• My home from home cafes are Café Maya (114 Farringdon Road) great food and it’s more like a social club and Millennium Café (25 Chapel Market), again the food is good and there’s always someone I know in there!

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Q: Can you explain more about your experience dealing with colitis?
Seven years ago I became very ill, unable to keep any food down, passing blood and my weight plummeted to 5 stone (32 kg). I was in constant pain, backwards and forwards to doctors and in and out of hospital. After two years I was eventually diagnosed with severe pancolitis, an inflammatory bowel and auto-immune disorder. Every 30 minutes in the UK, someone is diagnosed with crohns or colitis, there is currently no cure.

Prior to this I had been happy, healthy and enjoying my work as an actress with an active social life. Now I was in agony, taking 23 tablets a day and unable to leave the house without a wheelchair. On my second admission to hospital, they couldn’t find a pulse, I only had 60% of my blood remaining and had to have an urgent blood transfusion. My marriage broke up as my husband of 10 years no longer wanted me and became abusive when I got ill. My life changed forever.

For months I didn’t want to carry on, I was depressed and felt I had nothing to live for. Gradually I regained some weight and strength and didn’t need my wheelchair. I moved out of the marital home and basically had to start my life over. I also developed osteoporosis because of the colitis.

As part of my recovery, I wanted to get some tattoos, something to symbolise a new beginning – ravens. Ravens are a bird I much admire for its strength and intelligence and have always felt a strong connection with as I often photograph the Tower of London ravens. I sketched the designs and with the help of an amazing tattoo artist at The Family Business at 58 Exmouth Market, it all came together. I was delighted with the results. People seem to love them as much as I do and often stop me in the street to ask about them or want to take a photo. https://www.thefamilybusinesstattoo.com/

I joined an IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) network to connect with people who understood what I was going through. I didn’t feel so isolated and alone. Four years ago, I was made Ambassador for the network and am now in a position to raise awareness and advise others, particularly those who are suicidal or have suffered from domestic violence. It feels good to be able to give something back. In January 2019 I was nominated as one of the Mayor of London’s Unsung Heroic Women which was a huge honour. www.mycrohnsandcolitisteam.com

Q: How does art help?
I made an assemblage art piece, called A Gut Feeling. The nest represents my bed, comfort from the pain and chronic fatigue, the pills and drips which line it allow me to thrive. The discarded rings alluding to the break-up of my marriage and divorce, my husband no longer wanted me when I became ill. A torn business card, my career on hold. A raven feather shows my love of birds, my intestines inflamed and knotted. It took me around 6 weeks to create from coming up with the initial idea to getting all the materials together. I made a few changes, added and omitted things. Several days later I decided on the wedding rings, otherwise I felt that I would be leaving out a big part of my story and who I am today. Creating art takes my mind off my pain and helps other people to understand what it’s like to live with an inflammatory bowel disease. It has been well received and called a ‘powerful piece’.

There are many things I can no longer do, but I always say, if I waited for a day when I felt well enough, I wouldn’t do anything.

Q: What are your thoughts about climate change?
I am no expert by any means, but I am learning about reducing gas emissions and interested in renewable energy. I walk rather than drive where possible and haven’t flown for over five years. During Covid I noticed the air quality improving locally because people weren’t out driving their cars and I found I could breathe better. I didn’t expect that! It made a huge amount of difference.

When I first started reading more about climate change, I didn’t think about the whole health aspect. But then I thought about how hot weather can make people feel more unwell, and because the weather isn’t quite so cold it can make people feel better.

I find Climate change explained – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) useful for understanding more about climate change. The section relating to illness is important: “Climate change is expected to make some existing health problems worse as temperatures increase. Malnutrition could become more widespread as crop yields are affected by increased drought conditions in some regions, leading to reduced food production. Warmer temperatures could increase the range over which disease-carrying insects are able to survive and thrive. Vulnerable people will be at risk of increased heat exposure and the number of deaths due to temperature extremes is expected to increase in the future, although in the long term there will likely be fewer health problems related to cold temperatures. The amount of people at significant risk from flooding is expected to increase in the future and some studies have shown that there is likely to be an increase in disease relating to worsening air pollution. The populations likely to be most affected by the health impacts of climate change are those that are already hardest hit by climate change, particularly in developing countries.” 

Next steps

• Islington Faces wishes Jeane very good luck as she embarks on another round of medical treatment. If you want to find out more about inflammatory bowel disease, Crohns or Colitis then have a look at the website www.mycrohnsandcolitisteam.com
• To find out more about climate change and health have a look at the web pages https://www.gov.uk/guidance/climate-change-explained

Join the #energystory interviews
Do you have any questions about how to decarbonise your life or tackle climate change, eg, about travel, food, energy use? If so, please send us a message  on email to: islingtonfaces@gmail.com

Over to you
Also if you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via islingtonfaces@gmail.com If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola