Help Em get life changing weight loss surgery

Em's Story

Writing this has taken a lot of courage..sadly I am desperate.

My story begins as young girl, who struggled with her weight, I had an undiagnosed underactive thyroid, I was different from the other girls at school, bigger, and bullied. My weight fluctuated constantly throughout my teens also and my mental health and self esteem plummeted.

In 2005 at 26 years old, my health took a nose dive.

I suffered acute and sudden kidney failure and lost my right kidney.

Recovery was slow I was mostly immobile, my weight, motivation and wellbeing were hugely compromised. Over the following years I ballooned from 15st to 23st and was finally diagnosed with an underactive thyroid which explained the life long physical weight battle but did not undo the damage to my self esteem or emotional relationship I had with food and my body.

Medication went someway to treating my weight, but not my mind. I Was attending counselling when I was assaulted after a night out with friends. There was a before and after Emma after that night. My mental health plummeted. It made me hate my body, I was repulsed and self harm was my only relief. Binges meant I was sure to be ugly and no one would look at me. I was trapped in a never ending cycle of memories and flashbacks and that made it worse. I had a mental breakdown and the weight continued to rise. Years later, the damage was extensive and No matter what I did I would loose a small amount, hit a plateau and then put all the weight back on and more. I suffered from crippling panic attacks and severe depression and so many subsequent health conditions that have resulted from my weight gain.

Now I am nearly 29st. Truth be told, until the doctors recently told me I will die, my life held no value other than to not leave behind my incredible Husband and 5 beautiful Daughters.

I am wheelchair bound due to chronic back pain, syatica and continuous pelvic infections. I am unable to bare weight on crumbling knees, they are immensely painful and carpal tunnel in my left hand. To date I have had 4 TIAs (mini strokes), pneumonia that gave me sepsis, blood clots in my legs and a pulmonary embolism. I am on blood thinners for life. I have had covid 5 times and have now been diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnoea and use a CPAP machine at night. I am in a constant battle with my body and my mind and have been for so many years. Now please don't think that I am not doing anything or have simply given up, this is so not the fact. I am at present on tier 3 of an NHS weight management plan i must complete this tier to move on to tier 4. It has taken me 5 years to get this far. The next step will be me being referred for surgery, this can take 8 months, then, only if i am successful i am put onto a waiting list for anywhere up to 18 months +. At which point, i may not be here. This is got to the point where it is a matter of urgency, that even my GP recently said to me, after looking through my notes, that she couldn't believe I was still alive... she even suggested i find a way to get the surgery sooner. I know that if I don't get this surgery soon, I might not be here much longer. I feel like my life is literally hanging by a thread. So raising the money to get surgery myself may just be my saving grace. There are going to be people who have the opinion that I'm just fat and i just need to stop eating and thats fine, you are entitled to your own opinion, but it really is not as easy as that, if it was I would, so let this pass you by. But if you can help me get this gastric surgery i would be forever grateful.

I don't want to die.

I don't want to leave my children without a Mum.

I want a chance at a life where I can finally love and value myself.

I feel like I haven't come this far to just give up.

Thanks for reading

Emma, survivor x

Please share my wife Em's Story and donate where you can

Thanks Mike.