Found the link on google so have pasted story unfortunately no pics
Lucy Collins leans forward and takes a sip from a small glass of water. As she settles her 27st bulk back in her chair, she smiles. "I feel thinner already!" she jokes. At 27, Lucy is morbidly obese and has just had a potentially life-saving operation at the hands of Dr Shaw Somers, nicknamed the Fat Doctor by his patients.
Making women thin again is the Fat Doctor's mission. He's performed more than 2,000 gastric band and bypass procedures at St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, West Sussex, the NHS' largest obesity clinic. About 800 patients a year will go there for surgery, most of them female. "Women want to change, while men put up with their obesity and die because of it," Dr Somers states.
On the day we visit, there are six hugely overweight patients recovering from the surgery they hope will make them slimmer. They each sip at 10ml cups of water - which is all their new stomachs can handle.
The ward has been adapted to cope with its super-size patients - there are specially widened chairs and strengthened wheelchairs to accommodate their frames.
While their movements are slow, Dr Somers bounds between the beds, checking on his patients. In their eyes, he's a god - and he's received hundreds of thank-you letters from patients whose lives he's transformed.
Lucy is one such patient. The mum of two had a BMI of 54 - that's 29 more than the healthy level. She had her op yesterday and her stomach was reduced by 90 per cent, to about the size of an egg.
After trying - and failing - every diet plan going, she believes this is her last chance. Now she physically can't eat to excess. Losing weight is a given.
Jennifer hopes gastric surgery will change her life
Lucy's size meant she was at risk of heart disease, a stroke and diabetes. Like the 6,000 obese people in the UK who underwent this extreme weight-loss operation last year, she hopes it will make her thin and change her life.
"I knew if I didn't do something I'd die," she says. "I wouldn't be here in five years. I wouldn't see my children grow up."
Lucy's weight gain began when she was just five. "My parents gave me healthy food, but I craved crisps and chocolate," admits the council admin officer from Littlehampton, Sussex.
"The bigger I got, the more I ate. By 15, I weighed 14st. At school I was bullied and called 'thunder thighs'. I shrugged it off but it hurt. I never exercised because I couldn't bear anyone seeing me in gym gear."
Lucy carried on overeating. She met her partner Paul while at school and had their first child, Olivia, when she was 23. After that, her weight ballooned.
"I tried Slimming World, Rosemary Conley and even diet pills, but I hated the side effects - the stomach cramps and always having to rush to the loo," she says.
The Fat Doctor, Dr Shaw Somers, at work
After the couple's second baby, Max, was born in 2007, Lucy reached 27st.
Three months later, she and Paul, 28, an IT manager, got married. When Lucy saw how enormous she looked in her wedding photos, she realised she had a stark choice - diet or die.
"I knew I had to do something," she says. Her GP referred her to Dr Somers.
On the day of her gastric bypass operation, she was given a general anaesthetic, then with a Phil Collins CD playing quietly in the background, Dr Somers got to work.
He sliced through Lucy's skin and fat and pushed her muscles aside to get to her stomach. Then he stapled it so that it was about four times smaller and connected it to the lower part of her digestive system. She'll never be able to overeat again.
It sounds simple, but it's anything but. Lucy's treatment cost the NHS £10,000 and started long before she made it to theatre.
She had consultations with a dietician, a specialist nurse and a surgeon, and like many NHS patients, had to diet to prove she could lose weight independently. Lucy only managed to lose a few pounds, but it was enough to qualify her for surgery.
"People like Lucy are addicted to food, and once they're really obese, telling them to eat less and exercise more simply won't work," explains Dr Somers, 47.
After four hours of surgery the previous day, Lucy is now sitting up, recovering.
"I feel fantastic," she says. "All I have is a slight ache in my stomach. I'll never be able to eat normally, but I'm happy because I'll be able to see my kids grow up."
Lucy, who used to love snacking and polishing off her kids' leftovers between eating large meals, will now live on puréed carrot and chicken, smooth yoghurts and soups. After six months, she'll be able to eat child-sized portions of normal food.
"It sounds extreme," says Lucy. "But I have no regrets."
Gastric surgery is becoming more common in the UK, but it's not without its risks. The mortality rate is about one in 200 for a gastric bypass operation and one in 500 for a band, although it's a lot less with Dr Somers and his team. In one in 100 cases there's some sort of complication, which can delay recovery.
"But you have to remember that the health risks of carrying so much weight are much greater than the risk of surgery," says Dr Somers. "When you're that big, it's a matter of life and death. The people who come to us have tried diet and exercise and it just hasn't worked."
His attitude explains why for Dr Somers, these surgical procedures are just another day in the operating theatre. He carries out surgery on around 10 people a week.
"People tend to ask for bands because they've read about them," explains Dr Somers. "But they're not suitable for everyone. The band works well for people who eat too much at mealtimes. It's not so great for snackers as it won't stop smaller things like chocolate and ice cream going through - a bypass works better for them."
Back on the ward, his other patients are slowly recovering. But there's a hopeful atmosphere as the nurses bustle around.
Everyone here is making a longed-for change to their life. Like 46-year-old Jennifer Sanders.
"When I was young I regularly did karate. I'm 5ft 2in and back then I weighed less than 8½st. But I stopped exercising when I had my family and began to pile on the pounds," Jennifer, a florist from Ashford, Kent, says.
"I'd have two roast dinners a week, and I loved pizza, pies and chips. I never did any sport¿ I hated looking in the mirror. I felt so ugly," she explains.
At her heaviest, she weighed 18st and was a size 24. "I began to really worry about my health. I got osteoarthritis in my knees and I was scared I'd have a heart attack. But when I read about this surgery, it seemed like a lifeline.
"My husband Quentin was against it at first - he said he'd rather have a fat wife than a dead one - but the health risks of being big were far greater than those of the operation."
She's thrilled that she'll now be able to control her eating.
"I can hardly believe it. My life is going to be so different now," she says.
Dr Somers finishes surgery on his final patient at 5pm, having started at 8am, and then visits the wards before going home.
"It's wonderful to see how people's lives change after this surgery," he adds.
"It really does transform them. It's a fabulous job."
We'll keep you posted on Lucy and Jennifer's progress.
THE SUCCESS STORY 'I love showing off my body now'
Beth Burkill, 37, an HR administrator from Chichester, West Sussex, had a gastric bypass with Dr Somers in March 2007. She has since lost 9st.
AFTER: 10ST
Now she's 10st and a size 12.
"I was slim at school, but when I left home and started working in a fast-food outlet, I quickly put on weight. I'd skip breakfast and have a few butter-laden crumpets at 11am. For lunch I'd have scampi or a hot dog and chips, then chocolate bars in the afternoon. I'd go to the pub most nights where I'd drink and snack on crisps, then have a kebab or more chips on the way home. I'm 5ft 7in and quickly got up to 14st and a size 18.
"I tried to diet, and took everything from slimming pills to laxatives, but nothing worked. I lived in dark leggings and baggy tops.
"In 1998, I got married and had my son John, then startedd an office job and ate more sensibly, but four years ago, my father got cancer.
I frequently drove up and down to Leeds to help my mum look after him and I was always on the motorway, snacking in service stations. Soon I was 19st and a size 22.
"One day I was looking at a picture of my mum and my nan. They're both big - my mum is a size 24 and my nan's a 30 - and I realised I didn't want to spend my life like that.
BEFORE: 19ST
"I'd read about gastric surgery and decided it was my last chance, so I went for a consultation with Dr Somers at Streamline Surgical* in February 2007. I used my savings - £9,700 - but my husband and I both agreed it was worth the investment in my health. He knew I'd be happier if I lost the weight."
Eight months later, Beth has lost 9st, and she's lucky her skin has shrunk back with her.
"Now I have to eat little and often, otherwise my tummy feels tight and I feel sick and lightheaded until the food is digested," she says.
"Having the surgery is not an easy option - I will always have to be careful about what I eat - but it's worth it.
"My life has been transformed. I love shopping for fitted clothes in bright colours - I even wore a bikini on holiday this year. I don't want to hide my body any more."
http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&xhr=...aqi=&aql=&oq=shaw+so&pbx=1&fp=5f249b55c4d46e3
8th item
) and stop going round in circles, getting so far and then backtracking with the usual diets and diet clubs.
