My mum died days after travelling to Turkey for bum lift – she had no health issues, it’s horrific
A GRAN died days after undergoing a £7000 triple cosmetic op in Turkey.
Carol Keenan, 54, collapsed outside her hotel six days after having a Brazilian butt lift, tummy tuck and muscle repair at a clinic in Istanbul.
Despite being nearly a year on from the tragedy, her devastated family from Glenrothes, Fife still don’t know exactly what caused the fit and healthy mum’s death as they have not been sent her autopsy results.
But daughter Leonie Keenan, 32, warned anyone planning a ‘health tourism’ trip to think twice about putting their life at risk.
News of support worker Carol’s death comes days after Shannon Bowe, 28, from Denny, near Falkirk, died after a gastric band op in the same country.
Mum-of-three Leonie said: “My mum went to Turkey for an operation and never came home.
“She had no health issues – so we think it must have been the operation – but not knowing is horrific.”
Support worker Carol and partner Stevie Anderson, 55, jetted from Edinburgh to Istanbul last April for the week and she paid £7000 for the BBL and tummy tuck.
She was then offered a free third procedure – a stomach muscle repair to give her more definition – and went under the knife for six hours.
The whole trip including the hotel and clinic was all organised as a package and, while she was sore from the surgery, was in great spirits until her sudden death on April 20.
Primary school support worker Leonie said: “She went through health checks in Turkey and she passed them all.
“She was only offered the third procedure ‘free’ as she was getting wheeled down to theatre so I’m not sure she wanted it – but she got it anyway.
“She spent three days recovering after the op and was keen to do some tourism in Istanbul the day before they left for home.”
The couple were walking towards a taxi outside their hotel when she suddenly collapsed in Stevie’s arms.
Leonie said: “She was rushed to hospital but she was already dead.
“I got told by Stevie by text message that she had collapsed and then ‘she was gone.’
“I don’t remember anything after that, it was all a blur.”
Carol had an autopsy at the hospital and her body was flown back several days later – but nearly a year on, the family are no closer to finding out the cause of death.
Leonie said: “We’ve tried calling, the consulate have tried and out lawyer has tried but we’re getting nowhere.”
Leonie criticised celebs and health tourism advertising that glamorises the procedures on social media.
She said: “Mum wasn’t happy with her self-image for a few years before she went to Turkey.
“She was a typical woman – 5ft 10 and small built – but celebrities and people in the public eye always give the impression that image matters.
“This played on her mind from when she turned 50 and she just decided to save up and go for it.
“She was on all these facebook groups where everything is so positive and they are all egging each other on.”
Devastated Stevie issued a dire warning to anyone thinking of jetting off for any kind of cosmetic procedure.
He said: “Do not go.
“Your life is the most important thing. With us, grandkids have lost their gran, I’ve lost my partner, for something she didn’t need.”
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons have repeatedly warned against the practise as more and more people are travelling to Turkey, in pursuit of cheaper treatments.
An estimated 1.5 million Brits will travel abroad this year in search of procedures that are either not available on the NHS or are much cheaper than here.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Turkey and are in contact with the local authorities.”
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