Gastric bypass abroad story: Mum Dawn saved up her benefits for weightloss surgery in Poland which went terribly wrong – story in CLOSER magazine… 

Shocking photos show how mum of three almost died – after having gastric bypass surgery UK doctors said she didn’t need

Mum is put in coma and almost dies – after saving £13 a week from benefits on gastric bypass abroad in Poland.

Dawn, 32, saved for six years for the operation which almost killed her.

Decided to go to Poland after being turned down in the UK because at 14 stones she wasn’t fat enough

Wants to warn other women of the dangers

Mum of three Dawn Cole used to be a bubbly healthy woman.

But she hated being a curvy 14 stones. 

Dieting didn’t work and her GP said she wasn’t overweight enough to qualify for gastric surgery in the UK.

So Dawn took matters into her own hands. Determined to have the surgery, she saved money from her benefits for six years – and splashed out 4700 euros on the operation and flights to Poland.

However it was disastrous. After a painful bypass procedure which left her in agony, she almost died. And a year on she is confined to a wheelchair.

After being discharged from the Polish hospital too early, when she came home her tummy started to swell.

Her terrified husband rushed her to hospital where it was found Dawn’s tummy had twisted inside her and she had septicaemia. 

To save her life she was put in a coma for seven weeks during which time surgeons repeatedly opened her up to carry out nine operations to clean out her insides.

Luckily her life was saved – but the coma left her with contractions of the knees and foot drop, a condition caused by being bed bound from the coma.

She also has a huge scar down her tummy and is now confined to a wheelchair. If she wants to walk again she will need to go through complicated surgery which might not work.

Dawn came to Featureworld to raise awareness of going abroad to have gastric surgery. Indeed, although she has lost four stones, she wishes she had never had the bypass done and simply lost weight the normal way.

Dawn’s story was placed in Closer magazine.  It has since appeared in That’s Life magazine and in a magazine in Australia. Dawn has also since appeared in a BBC documentary.

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