A man with a massive hernia that makes him look pregnant faces a wait of almost two years for surgery to remove it.
Paul Milham’s 17.5cm mass – almost the size of a bowling ball – has left him in agony.
The 45-year-old, who lives in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, also says the hernia makes him “look like a freak”.
Despite being desperate to end his pain, NHS doctors reportedly put him on an 86-week waiting list for an operation to remove the mass.
To get the operation done sooner, Milham says he would have to pay up to £50,000 privately.
Paul Milham, 45, first saw the hernia in June last year, two months after undergoing emergency colon surgery to treat diverticular disease.
The therapist said he was placed on an 86-week waiting list to have the hernia removed despite desperate pleas to medical professionals to perform the operation sooner.
He said: ‘I feel very sad and angry about this.
‘I’m working more hours than ever to try to raise the money. I know people do the best they can, but this is my life.
“I need to get on the operating table as soon as possible to save my life.”
Hernias (when an internal part of the body pushes through a weakness in a muscle or tissue) are usually not dangerous.
In extreme cases, they can cause life-threatening complications.
Milham, a hypnotherapist, said: “If this can’t be fixed, I don’t think my body can live to old age in the state it’s in.”
“It doesn’t mean I’m going to die immediately, but I feel like I’m saving my life now.”
‘I just want to get back to my life. I look like I’m seven months pregnant with this bump.
‘The skin has been stretched so it hurts a lot. I have reduced activity. I don’t like being around people anymore because I look like a weirdo.
“It’s devastating to be worried about your life.”
Milham first spotted the hernia last June, which started out small but got “bigger and bigger” over time.
It emerged two months after undergoing emergency bowel surgery to treat a different condition.
After the operation, he was discharged after having a colostomy bag fitted, but was admitted to the hospital again the next day due to an infection.
Milham says NHS doctors do not believe the mass is “life-threatening” in its current form.
But one private surgeon, he claims, said it was at the “upper limits” of what can currently be repaired.
As the hernia continues to grow, Milham fears that if left much longer, surgery will never be able to fully correct it..
He said: ‘I’ve been begging and begging them to go before.
‘I have written to the surgeon, to the complaints department, to the CEO’s department and have gotten nowhere.
“I went to a private consultation and they told me that the hernia is now so large that it is at the upper limits of what is repairable, which, to me, suggests that if I don’t cure it now, then I will be stuck.” with this bowling ball for life.
‘I was left with this 17.5cm lump with nothing to protect my insides and there is only a centimeter of skin where my insides and intestines are.
‘The surgeon said that my situation, although serious, is not life-threatening. People like me are just waiting for a space to appear when there is space.
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said Milham was deemed “not clinically urgent” in November.
He was then upgraded to “clinically urgent” after another appointment in December, which may have reduced his wait time.
A hernia is a common problem that occurs when an internal part of the body pushes through a weakness in the muscle or surrounding tissue wall, says the NHS.
To have the operation done sooner, Milham says he would have to pay up to £50,000 to have it done privately.
Hospital bosses confirmed they were investigating her complaint “urgently”.
A spokesperson for Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said: “In line with the rest of the NHS, we are working hard to reduce waiting times for elective care and will always prioritize cases with the greatest clinical need, including the rise in those in which the patient’s condition has worsened. altered after the initial evaluation.
“Although we cannot comment on details about individual patients, we are urgently investigating the complaint Mr Milham has made about delays in his care.”
Hernias can develop between the chest and hips.
In many cases surgery is required.
There are many different types of hernias, but some can occur when tissue pushes through a surgical wound in the abdomen.
Some types of hernia can also strangulate or cause an intestinal blockage, says the NHS.