A woman has been left fighting for her life after a horrific experience with weight loss surgery in Turkey - which left her stomach “like concrete”.
Pinky Jolley, 45, decided to make the journey to Istanbul for gastric sleeve surgery after reaching a dress size of 24.
Doctors had previously voiced their concerns over her weight after developing serious medical complications that left her in a wheelchair.
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When she reached 112kg, she launched a GoFundMe page asking for donations to "allow her to have a future" after spending four years on NHS waiting lists.
Pinky quickly raised £2,000 (€2,825) and flew to Turkey in November after booking herself in for the operation, which permanently reduces the size of the stomach by 85%.
Despite having some concerns after she arrived at the facility and learned more about the invasive procedure, she decided to go ahead.
But the two-hour operation left Pinky with a myriad of complications soon afterward, including intense abdominal pain, vomiting, and dehydration.
She arrived home to Wirral in December 2022, where her GP urged her to go to the hospital immediately, reports the Liverpool Echo.
An emergency CT scan at Arrow Park Hospital showed a serious leak had occurred after the surgery, which led to an infection and had turned her internal organs "to concrete".
Speaking about her horrific experience since arriving home, 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 at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital for over a month.
She was finally able to return home earlier this year but has been left unable to eat solid food due to fear of further infection, and now relies on a feeding tube to sustain her.
Pinky - who now weighs 82kg and acknowledges she is "lucky to be alive" - has since warned others against having similar cut-price procedures done, saying: "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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