I’m a 35 stone mum-of-three & I can’t tie my shoes or walk properly – I’m scared I’ll die unless I have surgery
AN obese mum-of-three is terrified she will die before she’s 40 without weight loss surgery.
Leyla Clelland, 34, cannot tie her shoes or walk properly having toppled the scales at around 35 stone.
The former fast food restaurant worker also spends a week cleaning her flat because she gets so exhausted and is scared of not waking up if she falls asleep.
And she said friends have noticed she sometimes stops breathing momentarily when she sleeps round their place.
Ms Clelland, from Birmingham, said: “I don’t want to die. I want to be here to see my children, see them have children and get married and be happy.
“I used to be able to do a lot of things and walk to a lot of places. I just want my life back.”
Her mobility has plummeted in the past six months and she has since sat at home crying feeling “not human”.
She also can only lie on her front because she feels like she cannot breathe properly on her back.
Leyla said enjoyed her food from a young age and was chubby as a little girl.
But she began comfort eating more aged 19 when she was depressed.
She could drink 24 cans of coke in a couple of days but has cut it down to around three to four cans a day.
Aspiring carer Leyla also said said being abused in public have destroyed her self esteem.
She added: “It makes me feel horrible. It just makes me feel like I don’t want to go out anymore, that’s why I don’t leave my house because I know as soon as I do, I’m being judged and I don’t want to be like that anymore.”
Sometimes she will get on a bus and kids will throw stuff at her and call her names like “beached whale”.
Leyla claims she first approached the NHS asking for help with her weight in 2008 and joined the waiting list for weight loss surgery in 2017.
But she is now fundraising £10,000 to get surgery done privately.
She said she fears surgery is her last resort or she may die before she reaches age 40.
She added: “The doctors said that if I don’t lose weight, I could die. I was scared, horrified and ashamed. All I could think of was my little girl.
“I’ve tried various diets ever since I got big and going to the gym but because of my anxiety going into one scares me because I feel like everyone’s looking at me and judging, so I don’t want to be in there.
“I’ve tried swimming but then again with my anxiety, it bothers me.
“Showering is tricky. I have a chair in there because I can’t stand up in there because my legs give way. If I was to sit on the floor, I couldn’t get up without help.
“When I walk to the toilet I feel like I’m going to pass out and have to sit down. Sometimes I sit here and cry about it [mobility] because I don’t feel like a human anymore.
“I rely on people all the time to help me. They have to help put my shoes on as I can’t reach, that’s why I have shoes that I can just slip into.
“Cleaning tires me out, with a normal person it would probably take two hours to clean a house but with me it takes a week because I get so tired and just want to go to bed.”
She said she gave up contacting doctors about her weight four months ago after being on a waiting list for so long.