I spent £15k on surgery to get my New Year dream body but it almost killed me – I feared I’d never see my kids again
BLINKING quickly, Joanne Strong tried to focus on the bright lights of her private hospital room as she came round from having a tummy tuck.
After losing five stone in weight, the £15,000 surgery, which also included breast augmentation and a hernia repair, was a 40th birthday treat to herself.
It was January 2024, and like many women who start the new year in pursuit of a better body, she hoped this would be the year she’d get the figure she wanted.
“I’d worked hard to lose the flab and the tuck was the icing on the cake – a dream new body for a new decade.
“I used my savings to pay half and borrowed the rest from my family,” says Joanne, 42, who lives in Carlisle, Cumbria.
But the dream very quickly became a year long nightmare as she nearly died from post operative complications.
“There were several dark moments I feared I would die and leave my two youngsters motherless,” she reflects.
“Other bleak times lead me to seriously consider killing myself.
“I got so low, I was that desperate but I could not do this to my children, though I know I will be mentally and physically scarred for life by this ordeal.”
At her heaviest, Joanne, who is 5ft 7ins, was a size 20 and weighed 17 stone.
Over two years, she lost five stone through diet and exercise, dropping from a size 20 to a size 12, but was left with a roll of loose skin which she hoped the tuck would remove.
Turning 40 in December 2020, Joanne wanted to get rid of the flab around her waist for good and felt surgery was the answer.
She explains: “My weight has always yo-yoed and I gained a few stone after having the children.
“It was in the run up to me being 40 that I thought, ‘Right, you’ve lost the weight, let’s get rid of the excess skin and help give me my dream body – for a woman of my age.’
I thought I was dying many times and my children were scared they were going to lose their mummy. It has simply been the most devastating thing to happen to us.
Joanne Strong
“I was realistic – knew I’d never be skinny but just wanted to tidy my body up and be the best I could be.”
She saved for over a year for the surgery but in the hours which followed the procedure at Manchester Private Hospital, Joanne knew things weren’t right.
“I was in horrendous pain that evening then the next day, it was agonising,” she recalls.
“I was bleeding constantly and excessively into the drains and knew I was losing too much.
“I was weak, faint and pale and thought it was not right. I couldn’t even sit up as I struggled to move and if I did the pain was horrific.”
Taken to the brink of suicide
This was the start of a journey that saw Joanne spend over 50 nights in four different hospitals, undergo three more operations, including two skin grafts to seal the large open wound.
She has been left with permanent scars on her abdomen and right leg.
“The ordeal took me to the brink of suicide.
“The only reason I did not go through with it was I could not leave my daughter Eva, seven, and son, Toby, five, without their mummy.
“I have since been diagnosed with PTSD and depression.
“I beat myself up for choosing to have the plastic surgery but it was not my fault it went wrong.”
Joanne says she was told she may lose an average of 50mls of blood in over 24 hours but she claims she lost over 650mls.
“The staff tried to get me up on January 16 to go home, even though I repeatedly said I was not ready.
“As I was taken to reception, I bled on the floor,” she adds.
Joanne slept through most of that day but lost consciousness as they tried to get her up to use the toilet.
She says: “When I came round I was on oxygen and they had called for a resuscitation trolley. My blood pressure was very low – 89/55.”
‘I was scared I’d never see my children again’
Joanne claims the post op care she received was poor.
She continued to lose blood from her wound which went from hip to hip.
Eventually the hospital said they were ringing 999 for an ambulance to transfer her to an NHS hospital to deal with the heavy internal bleeding she was experiencing.
“I was scared I was going to die, never see my children again.
“The hospital failed to tell the ambulance crew that I had previously lost consciousness and they later registered the hospital’s handover notes as “sub standard”,’ says Joanne, who runs her own studio photography business and is in a long-term relationship.
She was taken to Salford Royal where it took five hours to stabilise her.
She was then transferred to Wythenshawe Hospital for a blood transfusion where she stayed for several days.
Left permanently scarred
On January 22, a week after surgery Joanne returned to Manchester Private Hospital to have a drain removed but returning home, her wound continued to bleed over several days as clots developed under her skin and tissue became increasingly diseased.
Joanne was admitted to Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary on February 7 but had to be transferred to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary for emergency surgery to remove the dead tissue.
Later that month and also in April, she underwent two skin grafts with it being taken from her leg to seal the large open wound on her abdomen. At one point, she was on 14 antibiotics a day.
“I am permanently scarred from the hip to the knee now and a 20cm scar goes from hip to hip. In total, I was in hospital for over 50 days.
“I thought I was dying many times and my children were scared they were going to lose their mummy.
It has simply been the most devastating thing to happen to us,” she says.
A legal battle
On February 21, Graeme Hughes, director of Manchester Private Hospital, replied to Joanne’s letter of complaint, stating: “It is fair to say the level of care and service we provided you was not up to our usual high standard.”
On May 8, in a letter seen by The Sun, Joanne was offered £20,000 compensation for the ‘clinical and emotional complications associated with surgery’.
In May, she sought legal advice from a no win no fee solicitors who, she claims, advised her to turn down the offer and pursue a medical negligence case.
They engaged two independent surgeons to review Joanne’s case.
They said because she bled heavily during previous NHS procedures in 2015, it is ‘unlikely that many surgeons would have chosen to have undertaken several surgical procedures on you’.
Joanne refutes this suggestion claiming she was told otherwise by the hospital.
Struggling to cope with her ongoing anxiety and wishing to draw a line under the trauma, Joanne emailed the hospital to say she would accept their offer but claims she was told the offer had been withdrawn.
Cosmetic surgery - what to consider
The NHS advise if you’re thinking about having a cosmetic procedure, it’s important to do your research first and find out about what will happen.
All cosmetic procedures have some risks, whether you’re having a surgical procedure, like breast implants, or a non-surgical procedure, like dermal fillers or Botox.
They can lead to serious complications if they’re not done correctly, and can affect your mental health if they do not turn out how you expected.
The NHS cosmetic procedures guide has information about the different types of cosmetic surgery.
Do not feel pressured or rushed into making a decision. You should be given a cooling-off period after your consultation to decide if you want to go ahead.
Make sure you:
- are not tempted by time-limited offers or deals urging you to sign up to a procedure immediately
- are not pressured into agreeing to extra procedures or treatments you had not considered before arriving at the clinic
- avoid any group treatments, or treatment events that involve alcohol
- avoid mobile services where procedures are performed in private homes or hotels
If you’re not completely comfortable with the practitioner or the procedure, you can walk away.
Surgery regret
Joanne has undergone counselling to deal with the anxiety she suffers and has lost thousands of pounds in earnings as she was unable to work for months.
Today, Joanne is grateful to be alive, saying: “I am relieved but I have suffered needlessly through no fault of my own.
“I obviously regret now having the surgery and I hope other women learn about the dangers of cosmetic surgery.
“We often read about botched operations abroad but it can happen here.
“I won’t thankfully need more surgery and I hope to never see a hospital operating theatre again.”
Graeme Hughes, Director of Manchester Private Hospital, said: “This is a complex case which requires careful deliberation in relation to the position with Joanne and our indemnity provider.
“I cannot comment on individual patient cases due to confidentiality.
“We appreciate that this further delay to a potential outcome will be very frustrating to Joanne.
“We asked Joanne for her further patience to allow the full case to be re-reviewed. Including the decision regarding refund of fees.”