A 29st woman who worried her weight was going to kill her says £3,500 gastric sleeve surgery saved her life - and she no longer feels like the "literal elephant in the room". Mollie Hull, now 20, tipped the scales at 28.8st (403.2lbs) at the time of her operation and was squeezing into a size 30 clothes at her heaviest.
Forced into taking days off work due to exhaustion and worried she would end up in a wheelchair, Mollie decided she needed to make a change. Knowing she would be waiting a while for surgery on the NHS, the dental nurse decided to look elsewhere - and found a surgeon in Egypt.
Mollie then underwent gastric sleeve surgery in April 2022. The NHS says anyone thinking of travelling abroad for surgery should "understand the risks involved" and consult with their GP before making any final decision.
"Research should be undertaken to find out about the people who'll be treating you and the facilities available", advice online says. In the year since her surgery, Mollie, has lost 11st (154lbs) and continues to lose an average of 0.5st (7lbs) a month.
And after swapping pizzas, takeaways and multiple bags of crisps for vegetables, fish, cereal bars and fruit, she says she feels better than ever. Mollie 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 that you get quoted in the UK privately. I was that scared I was going to die due to my weight, I couldn't have saved that amount of money at such a young age.
"Food was my go-to thing. I knew I needed to make a change after I could no longer shop for clothes in normal shops and needing to have time off work because I'd be so exhausted.
"At one point I thought I'd end up in wheelchair. But now I just feel so much healthier. I had an iron deficiency before, whereas now I'm ticking all the right boxes in terms of health."
Mollie says she'd been obese since the age of 10 and has always struggled with her weight. She said: "Even as a child, being bigger meant I would always get left out of things with friends. I would just be sat at home eating.
"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.
"I ended up going into foster care at 13 and eating myself into comfort. At 15 years old I was already over 20 stone.
"It was the only thing that was regular. It was the only aspect of control that I had."
By the time she left care at the age of 18, Mollie weighed 27st (378lbs). She then had full control over what she was eating and continued to pile on the pounds.
Mollie said: "McDonald's, pizza, no vegetables. It wasn't even seven vegetables a week - let alone seven a day. I would often eat up to eight bags of crisps a day as well as chocolate grab bags.
"I'd have cheesy chips for lunch, chicken nuggets and chips for dinner, often followed by family sized dessert such as a sharing tiramisu or six donuts. This all came with many health issues such as high blood pressure, prediabetes, only being able to walk 100 yards or less and not being able to walk up stairs."
After first reading about weight loss surgery when she was 13, Mollie eventually decided to get it done when she was 19. She said: "They removed 75% of my stomach.
"Before surgery I had a strict diet where for four weeks I was basically just drinking milk. I only lost a stone doing that though. At the time of surgery, I was 28.8st (403.2lbs).
"After the op I initially felt very unwell and it took me a good month to feel better but I could start to feel physical changes straight away, 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.
"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."
Since going under the knife, Mollie has lost 11 stone combined with regular exercise and a new and improved diet. And she said: "I've also changed career paths from a dental receptionist to a nurse as before I couldn't even stand, let alone stand for 10 hours."
