A mother-of-three is warning others against surgery abroad after she had to have her spleen removed and almost lost her life following a botched weight-loss procedure in Turkey.
Leanne O’Driscoll said she had reached a “breaking point” with her weight after trying numerous diets. She weighed 16, 10 pounds at her heaviest point. and decided he wanted to make a drastic change.
The 43-year-old researched her options but discovered that although weight-loss surgery was available in her native Ireland, there was a 10-year waiting list.
Eager to start her new life, she found a cheaper alternative, costing £2,400, in Turkey, and the operation was immediately available.
But what had been a dream quickly turned into a nightmare, and the procedure left her body “vomiting blood” and “tormented by pain.”
Leanne O’Driscoll said she had reached a “breaking point” with her weight after trying diets and wanted to make a drastic change.
Pictured: Leanne O’Driscoll while in hospital with sepsis
Leanne after her weight loss surgery. She said that she will now have to take antibiotics for the rest of her life.
“I feared the worst, but the nurses told me it was normal,” she said.
A week after the operation, he said, he had finally recovered enough to return home, but he became ill again on the flight.
When he got home, he said: “I was shivering from the cold and before I went to bed, I collapsed and became unconscious.”
Assuming she was dehydrated, she called her sister after regaining consciousness to ask for some water.
But when her sister went upstairs she saw that Leanne was on the floor.
‘My sister screamed to call an ambulance. Once again I fell into unconsciousness.
At the hospital, scans revealed that his spleen had been damaged during the procedure and his body had gone into skeptical shock.
Due to internal bleeding, the 43-year-old had to receive 11 pints of blood in an emergency transfusion.
Unfortunately, doctors were unable to save his spleen and had to remove it.
Pictured: Leanne O’Driscoll recovering from her spleen removal surgery
Leanne shares her ordeal to warn others against surgery, especially as it is her “biggest regret” in life.
After a week, Leanne was able to return home and, as she recovered, the weight came off “rapidly”.
Leanne said: “I looked like a skeleton and my colleagues struggled to recognize me. One told me they had no idea who I was.
‘I felt like a shell of myself and my hunger was everywhere.
“Emotionally I wanted to eat, but my body told me I couldn’t.”
Now, she is sharing her ordeal to warn others against the surgery, especially since it is her “biggest regret” in life.
And he added: “I wish I had never had surgery.”
‘I will be taking antibiotics for the rest of my life, something I almost lost, because I no longer have immunity. Even a minor infection could kill me.
“I’m lucky to be alive; don’t make the same mistake I did.”
In Turkey, gastric bypass surgery can cost as little as £3,000, much less than the more than £8,000 it costs privately in the UK, with similar prices in Ireland.
While many are attracted by the low prices and seemingly quick turnaround times to undergo procedures in Turkey, doctors have warned of cost-cutting practices at many clinics and of patients “passing through Turkish hospitals on a treadmill.” conveyor”.
Leanne’s case follows the tragic death of a 20-year-old British woman following a botched surgery in Turkey.
Morgan Ribeiro flew to the country to undergo gastric sleeve surgery after suffering years of bullying over her weight.
She died from complications in a Serbian hospital after her flight back to Britain had to make an emergency landing in Belgrade when she became seriously ill.
Tragically, recent statistics suggest that At least 25 Britons have died after cosmetic surgery abroad since 2019.
