BBC Politics has a clip of  that incredibly moving part of Daisy Cooper’s speech in which she describes the moment she was told she needed major surgery or she had four days to live. And then the further blow that she was so ill that she would likely never work again.

“I lay in my bed on the 13th floor of that hospital and I sobbed. I sobbed and I sobbed and I sobbed for 17 hours straight”

During a speech to her party’s conference, Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper reflects on being diagnosed with Crohn’s diseasehttps://t.co/BGLrmJA0gI pic.twitter.com/tEakVFKV3p

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 16, 2024

Watch the whole thing:

Here’s the text of her speech in full:

Conference – guess what? We did it! And not just photobombing the Prime Minister! We helped kick out the Tories. We elected 72 MPs. And now, we are the largest third party in parliament in a century.

Thank you. Thank you for every leaflet you delivered. Thank you for every resident you spoke to. And thank you for every penny you donated. This is your win.

Now over the last few years we’ve been on a winning streak.It started in Chesham & Amersham where we knocked out the first brick in the “Blue Wall.” Then we won in North Shropshire where we burst Boris’ bubble. In Tiverton & Honiton we showed Boris the door and in Somerton & Frome we demanded an end to the Conservative circus.

Turns out those stunts were pretty tame right? These four incredible wins were all down to you!

And on general election night, as the results came in it was a really special moment to learn that all four of our amazing by-election winners had won their seats again. Not just because they’re all fantastic MPs and colleagues, but because journalists can never again ask whether we Lib Dems can hold onto our by-election seats in a general election!

But winning these by-elections – and then winning on such a scale in the General Election – was never a given.

Back in 2020, just after I became deputy leader, I remember one of my first conversations with Ed. And it was quite sobering. He said to me: “Daisy, we both know we’ve only got 11 MPs. But – when you add up our majorities – do you know how few votes stand between us and extinction? It’s 69,664. If we lose just half of those votes to the Tories, we will be wiped out.”

Conference – Since then, I’ve held that conversation in my mind every single day.During every media interview. During every canvassing session. During every local party fundraiser. But until now, I haven’t shared that conversation – with a single living soul.

Why? Well, because Conf, we didn’t want anyone to know that we were in survival mode. After boundary changes, we were notionally on eight seats. Eight seats between us having a Parliamentary party – or extinction. But here’s a new number for you: our MPs now represent 7 million people! In Parliament – I can’t even walk to the toilet without bumping into a Lib Dem MP! So now we have 72, what are we going to do with them?

First and foremost, the top priority in parliament for our 72 Liberal Democrat MPs is being champions for our local health and care services. And there’s a simple reason for that – it was the number one issue that came up on the doorstep. People struggling to see a GP or a dentist, children waiting for mental health assessments, people waiting for cancer treatment or a hip operation… devastating stories of ambulances that didn’t arrive until it was too late. Our NHS pushed to the brink. Our care services in crisis.

So when my team and I set out to develop our key manifesto pledges, we did so knowing that our ideas on health and care could not just transform our electoral prospects – they could transform people’s lives.Because Conference, that is what good health and care services do – they transform people’s lives. And I should know because they transformed mine.

You see, 12 years ago, I was rushed to hospital. A few weeks in, I was told that without major surgery, I had just four days left to live. My weight had dropped to around 7 stone. My eyesight was failing. My heart rate had plummeted. And my arms were black and blue. I was fed only through a feeding tube. But it wasn’t the prospect of major surgery that upset me – it was what they said next.

“Even if you survive Daisy, even if you recover, you will probably never be able to work again. Your Crohns disease is so aggressive, at most you’ll be able to maybe do one day a week but nothing too stressful. You’ll likely need surgery every five years or so. Here’s an Information pack about the benefits you might be entitled to.”

Conference, I lay in my bed and sobbed. I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed for 17 hours straight. I felt like my world had fallen apart. As a campaigner, I’ve always found my meaning and purpose in my work: the causes I believe in, the injustices I want to fight, the people I work with. All of it, potentially gone. Snatched away. Or at least that’s how it felt at the time.

Hopefully though – you can see that the story ends well! As is the case with so many millions of people, the NHS didn’t just save my life, the people who make the NHS what it is, gave me my life back.Thanks to them, I got my strength back. Put on some weight. And decided to embrace my new life.

But I’m not going to lie – I was really scared. And I often wonder what’s happening now to the young woman – or man – who is suffering those same symptoms now. Can they even get an appointment with their GP? How long have they been waiting for a scan? Are they stuck in a hospital corridor – rather than a ward – as they scream with pain? Do the staff have the time to hold their hand, to explain the disease, to help them wash?

As liberals, we don’t blindly defend the NHS as an institution. We defend it because it’s the manifestation of an idea – a liberal idea – that our NHS should be free at the point of use, and based on need not ability to pay. And we campaign for it – because health is about individual freedom.

You don’t have freedom, if you’re on a waiting list so long that your world shrinks and you’re left hobbling at home from one room to the next. You don’t have freedom if you’re diagnosed with cancer, but you have no start date for your treatment. You don’t have freedom, if you’re ready to leave hospital and go home, but you’re discharged instead to a care home miles away – losing mobility, independence and connection – for the sole reason that there aren’t the care workers to help you recover at home.

Conference, decent health and care services are the bedrock of a liberal society. That’s why we put health and care, front and center of our General Election campaign. It’s why our MPs have been raising questions about their local health services in Parliament – en masse. And it’s why we’re demanding that the government make the Autumn Budget a Budget to save the NHS and care.

Conference, it’s hard to overestimate just how bad the situation is. The Conservatives legacy could not be worse. They have left the nation’s health in a terrible state, ripping away people’s freedom to live their lives to the full.

Do you remember what they promised? They promised to recruit 6000 GPs. Promised to build 40 new hospitals. Promised that cancer patients could start treatment within 62 days. And they broke every one of those promises. They promised to fix social care for good. They promised not to put up personal taxes to pay for it. They promised no one would lose their homes to pay for it either. And guess what – they broke all those promises too.

Conference – they promised that the NHS was safe in their hands but they have brought it to its knees. We must keep their hands off it. We must keep taking the fight to the Tories. We must finish the job.

But we have a message for the Labour government too. The NHS was a liberal idea, driven forward by Labour. Designed by Beveridge, delivered by Bevan. So Wes if you’re listening – Take up our ideas or put forward your own. If we support them, we’ll back you. But if we don’t see the right level of ambition or urgency, we will hold your feet to the fire.

We Lib Dems must continue to campaign to save our NHS and care like our lives depend on it. Because I know, and we know, that so many people’s lives really do.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings