A woman has been fighting for her life after botched surgery left her stomach "like concrete".
Pinky Jolley, 45, travelled to Istanbul in Turkey, for a gastric sleeve procedure in November after tipping the scales at 17st 11lbs. UK doctors had confirmed the diabetic should slim down when she piled on the pounds after serious medical complications left her in a wheelchair.
With a dress size of 24, Pinky had launched a fundraiser to "allow her to have a future" after spending four years on NHS waiting lists. She quickly raised over £2,000 and after booking the procedure, flew to Turkey two months later.
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But after arriving at the clinic, Pinky, who is unemployed, became increasingly concerned when medics there ''could barely speak English'', but felt she had to go ahead with the surgery to have 85% of her stomach removed. After a two-hour operation, she experienced a myriad of complications, including intense abdominal pain, vomiting, and dehydration.
Just four days later, Pinky arrived back home to Wirral in December 2022 where her GP urged her to go to hospital immediately. An emergency CT scan at Arrow Park Hospital showed a serious leak after surgery led to an infection which had turned her internal organs "to concrete".
Pinky said: "I feel misled and upset that something that was meant to help has caused me so much suffering. I've lost four stone in four weeks because my stomach is tiny.
"I wanted to lose eight stone within two years. I've had to have a feeding tube to help but everything is so painful. After nearly dying I just wish I never got a gastric sleeve.
''They totally botched the operation and left my insides so infected they were all hard and like concrete the doctors said. 'It's been a horrible ordeal I just want to be well again. Looking back it was so cheap that I really should have thought twice but I just got so swept up.''
Three surgeons were forced to ''jet-wash'' the inside of her stomach to save her life, on January 29 before she battled sepsis in the Royal Liverpool University Hospital for over a month. She was finally being able to return home on March 26 this year.
However, Pinky has not been able to eat solid food since November due to fear of further infection within the stomach, instead relying on a feeding tube to sustain her.
Pinky added: "I was excited that I might be finally doing something about my weight that I had waited four years to sort out. I had so much support from people after raising the money. I wanted to get started straight away."
Pinky underwent major surgery to remove 85% of her stomach and spent two days in a Turkish hospital recovering. But upon returning home she endured intense abominable pain, vomiting and extreme dehydration.
She said: "It felt like someone was stabbing my stomach constantly. The only pain medication that was offered was paracetamol which barely helped with the pain. I demanded blood tests because I had never felt pain like this before."
Pinky, who now weighs just 13st and is a dress size 18, and has been left with a gaping hole in her stomach, said: "I'm lucky to be alive - my body was riddled with infection. I did nine months of research and wished they had performed a leak test.
"No one should have to go through this pain. I'm so thankful for all the help I've received when I returned. I've lost so much weight, but this isn't how I wanted it to happen."
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