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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASALiverpool man Simon Henderson experienced 'unbearable' pain out of nowhere
A man dismissed a bout of stomach pain until he was “curled up” on the floor in agony. Simon Henderson, 49, from Liverpool, believes the first warning signs appeared in mid-2025 before he knew anything was seriously wrong.
Simon experienced a sudden pain just below his rib cage that lasted around an hour and left him with an upset stomach. Because it passed quickly, he carried on with life. Speaking to the ECHO, Simon said: ”When you get a one-off thing that doesn't last very long, you don't think too much about it.
“The pain lasted about an hour and just led to a bit of an upset stomach, so I just assumed that one was maybe something I'd eaten. I didn't go and see anybody about it."
Then, in September 2025, everything changed. Simon said: "I was sitting at my computer doing some writing and suddenly, I felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach by the devil. The pain erupted just below my rib cage and was unbearable.
“I did the very typically bloke thing. I thought, ‘it'll be fine, I'll get through this,’ and tried to power through it. About two hours later, after being curled up in a ball on my bathroom floor and throwing up, I thought I should probably call an ambulance."
Simon was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis. This is the inflammation of the pancreas and can cause sudden, severe abdominal pain that often requires emergency hospital treatment.
Although most people recover, complications can sometimes be serious and life-threatening. In adults, around eight in ten cases are caused by gallstones or alcohol consumption, with gallstones being the most common cause.
Over the following months, Simon continued to suffer repeated flare-ups and was admitted to hospital seven times. By the end of January 2025, he had spent a total of 32 days in hospital.
Each admission brought more scans, tests and investigations, but doctors were unable to identify what was causing the attacks. At one stage, it was even suggested that Simon might have idiopathic pancreatitis, meaning there was no identifiable cause.
Simon said: "The uncertainty was incredibly frustrating. The doctors wanted to help, but they couldn't treat a cause they hadn't found. One of the first questions they ask you when you go in with pancreatitis is do you drink, because alcohol is a huge cause for pancreatitis.
"I've had about four pints in the last 18 months, so it's not an issue for me. So when I told them I didn't drink and they couldn't find gallstones, they were flummoxed."
The breakthrough finally came during a hospital admission in January 2026. Because Simon's claustrophobia prevented him from completing an MRI scan, doctors carried out an endoscopic ultrasound instead.
The scan revealed microlithiasis. Tiny gallstones sometimes described as ‘sludgy sand’, were hidden within Simon’s gallbladder. The stones were so small they had not appeared on previous scans.
Simon said: "The doctors explained that these tiny gallstones and sludge were leaving my gallbladder and irritating my pancreas, which was causing the repeated pancreatitis attacks. After months of not knowing, it was a huge relief to finally have an answer.
"The doctor told me (what was causing it) and I burst into tears. I sat there in the ward, I was in a bed next to the window.
“And the doc came in, he told me, and I burst into the happiest tears I have ever felt, because now I knew what was causing it, and I had an outcome. The outcome was going to take my gallbladder out. It was genuinely one of the happiest moments of my medical life.”
With the cause finally identified, doctors were able to put a treatment plan in place. Simon was placed on the waiting list for surgery to remove his gallbladder.
However, before the operation could take place, he suffered another major pancreatitis attack after more than three months without symptoms. While on his way to a GP appointment, he recognised the familiar pain immediately and was rushed back to hospital.
Because doctors now knew what was causing the attacks, they decided his gallbladder needed to be removed as soon as possible. What had originally been a routine operation became urgent surgery. In May 2026, Simon underwent keyhole surgery to remove his gallbladder.
Simon said: “I was quite lucky with mine because pancreatitis can go necrotizing, which is obviously when things start dying. It can be chronic, it can be life-threatening and people can die from it. It was my first major operation and, although I was nervous, the surgical team was fantastic."
Now recovering from surgery, Simon is feeling optimistic about the future. He said: "While there is always a possibility that previous pancreatitis attacks may have caused lasting damage to my pancreas, the cause of my pancreatitis has now been removed, so in theory it should never come back."
As part of Guts UK's Let's Talk Guts campaign, running between July 13 and 19, Simon is encouraging people to take digestive symptoms seriously and seek medical help when something doesn't feel right.
Simon said: "One doctor told me that pancreatitis causes some of the worst pain a human being can experience, and after going through it, I believe him. The pain is completely debilitating.
"If you have severe pain under your ribs that leaves you doubled over, vomiting or unable to function, don't do what I did and wait for hours hoping it will pass. Get medical help straight away."
Simon also hopes sharing his experience will help others find answers sooner. He said: "If someone reads my story and recognises their own symptoms, or if it encourages them to ask about further investigations that could lead to an earlier diagnosis, then it's worth it."
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