A woman who shed 11 stone in weight after a gastic sleeve operation in Egypt has admitted she “expected to die” while having the surgery. Mollie Hull paid £3,500 to go under the knife, which is a drastic reduction from what she would have paid in Britain. She feared that she’d lose her life after weighing 29 stone and gorging on up to eight bags of crisps a day.
The former dental nurse from Stone in Staffordshire, said: “I was on the NHS waiting list and I knew I’d be dead if I waited years. I had to do something sooner.
“Going to Egypt cost me £3,500 including flights, which is cheap compared to the £14,000 you get quoted in the UK privately. I was scared I was going to die due to my weight. I couldn’t have saved that amount of money at such a young age.”
Mollie said she had struggled with her weight from the age of 10.
Mollie continued: “I’m so glad to be alive and, to be honest, I went in expecting to die as you hear so many horror stories about surgeries abroad.”
Mollie recalled: “I remember having to buy adult size stuff for my school uniform. It was just terrible. I was the only one of my peers like that. I knew something was wrong.”
Entering foster care at 13, Mollie said she ate to comfort herself, weighing 20 stone by the time she was 15.
She said: “[Eating] was the only thing that was regular. It was the only aspect of control that I had.”
A diet of chocolate grab bags, crisps, pizza and McDonald’s donuts, cheesy chips and chicken nuggets sent Mollie’s blood pressure upwards.
She said she was also diagnosed with pre-diabetes and was only able to walk 100 yards or fewer and was unable to climb a flight of stairs.
She decided to get weight loss surgery at 19 after first hearing about it six years before. On a strict diet before the operation, Mollie had three quarters of her stomach removed.
She said after surgery she still weighed 28.8 stone and felt “very unwell”. Mollie said: “It took me a good month to feel better, but I could start to feel physical changes straightaway – even just walking around without the weight on my back.
“It just felt very surreal thinking that this is the start to the rest of my life.”Now Mollie says she has lost 11 stone, combining regular exercise and a healthier diet.
She has also switched careers to nursing as she is able now to stand whereas before her weight loss she couldn’t even stand up.
Weight loss surgery is sometimes used as a treatment for people who are very obese, the NHS says. The NHS says it can lead to “significant” weight loss and help improve many obesity-related conditions, such as type two diabetes or high blood pressure.
But it is a major operation and in most cases should only be considered after trying to lose weight through a healthy diet and exercise, the NHS says.
