Me and my best friend went to Turkey for a weight loss op – what happened was terrifying
WHEN best friends Sophie and Danielle* flew to Turkey for cosmetic surgery, they thought they would come home with their dream bodies.
Instead, within 48 hours one of them was dead and the other disfigured for life.
Sophie Hunt, 34, and Danielle, 32, chose a clinic in Istanbul in the hope that they would have quick and easy tummy tucks and liposuction.
Mum-of-two Sophie collapsed and died two days after her operation, while Danielle says she was left with necrosis, when flesh dies due to too little blood flowing to the area, which left behind a hand-sized wound in her abdomen that “stank like death”.
Sophie’s 17-year-old son and five-year-old daughter are still struggling to come to terms with their mum’s death last year, and now Sophie’s family and Danielle are desperate to prevent anyone else from going through a similar nightmare.
Danielle, from Northampton, said: “I still have dreams that I’m stuck there in the hospital.
“I should be grateful because I’m alive but often I wish Sophie had made it instead of me.
“I know now that flying abroad for cheap surgery simply isn’t worth it.”
Sophie’s sister Aimee said: “Surgery is dangerous.
“If you’re thinking about getting it, please remember you get what you pay for. Save up and have it done privately at home in the UK.
“I thought Sophie would be safe, and so did she. But instead she died alone in a foreign country.”
Sophie, also from Northampton, was a passionate foodie and worked as a nursery cook.
Aimee, 37, said: “She was the kindest soul. I’d go over to hers when I felt miserable and I’d leave having forgotten what was troubling me.
‘Knocked out’
“Her kids were her absolute world and she would always do anything for them.
“She loved to cook, she loved music and she could be absolutely crazy in the best way.”
But Sophie was also insecure about her body and had been struggling to feel confident after attempting to shed weight with diet and exercise.
She first announced her plans to head abroad for surgery in January 2022 and promised her family that she would do lots of research.
Despite her mum Sandra’s objections, Sophie had booked her operation for March and flew out to Turkey with Danielle.
After reading reviews in specialist groups on Facebook, the pals were under the impression that having surgery there would see them receive better care than in the UK.
They eventually settled on GNR Aesthetics, based in Istanbul, due to its glowing reviews on social media and a persuasive Instagram profile showing successful procedures.
The glossy website convinced them that they would be in the safe hands of award-winning doctors with extensive surgery experience.
Aimee says Sophie felt safe because she had been told the surgeon was decorated and had apparently seen work by him featured on the clinic’s glossy Instagram account.
Aimee said: “Sophie kept telling us she was going to look a million bucks. She was really excited to go and get it done.
“She’d been struggling with her confidence and thought this would give it back to her. I trusted that she knew what she was getting into.”
According to the website: “The GNR Aesthetics Clinic is a special clinic for the entire aesthetic surgery.
“Our claim is to help our patients through experience and perfection to natural beauty.”
However, The Sun has since found that GNR is not a registered medical clinic in Turkey.
It operates as a health tourism agency and, when confronted by The Sun, staff claimed it “can only make airport transfers and hotel accommodation transactions” under Turkish law.
Danielle, who had been “inseparable” from Sophie for 18 years after meeting at work, says she and her best pal did not realise the dangerous situation they were getting into.
She said: “We were so excited. We kept saying how it would be the start of a new life for us.
“We’d planned holidays that we’d go on while finally feeling confident about our bodies.
“It never crossed our minds that something could go wrong.”
GNR arranged their operations as part of a package which cost the two women £3,963 each.
Danielle claims she was given consent forms written in Turkish to sign, meaning they were reliant on a translator to discover what they were agreeing to.
“The forms were the only thing that seemed a bit odd,” Danielle recalled.
“The hospital itself seemed really clean. It was like being in the UK other than the different language being spoken.”
Sophie’s surgeon, who we are not naming, claims to have won awards.
The Sun has since found that he has only been practising since 2018 and has no record of awards presented to him for his surgical work.
When Sophie came round from her operation on March 8, she immediately knew something was wrong.
Danielle recalled: “Sophie was telling me she didn’t feel well at all after the surgery.
“She was struggling to keep food down and felt light-headed.
“The staff kept coming in to get us moving but Sophie was on oxygen by this point. I got up first and went to the door.
“When they stood her up, she shouted, ‘No’ and then collapsed.
“Within seconds a panic button had been pressed and staff flooded the room. I tried to see what was happening but they shut me in another room and gave me pain- killers. I was knocked out.
“When I woke up they told me Sophie was OK but that I needed to call her next of kin as they didn’t have the number.”
After speaking to Danielle, Aimee flew to Turkey the following day under the impression her sister was stable in an ICU ward.
In reality, Sophie’s Turkish death certificate shows she died at 9.25am in Turkey — 7.24am UK time — THREE hours before Aimee even boarded the plane.
Rotting flesh
She claims she was not informed of her sister’s death until that evening in Turkey.
Aimee said: “I was told she was stable but that I couldn’t see her. I thought she would be comforted knowing I was there.
“When I went back in the afternoon, I was told she had died and was asked to ID the body. It was horrific.”
Through tears, Aimee added: “I think I collapsed. I didn’t want to look, but all I could focus on were her eyes.”
Meanwhile, Danielle, who was still recovering from her surgery, had no idea her friend had died.
She only found out when she got a text from Sophie’s son.
It left Danielle terrified as she realised her own surgery did not seem to be healing normally and there was a putrid smell coming from the wounds.
But she says the nurses acted like nothing was wrong.
Aimee went to visit Danielle, who had been left in a room with dirty dressings dumped on the floor that smelt like rotting flesh.
“I asked the nurses and they told me it was all normal,” Danielle said. “I’d expected to be in pain after the surgery so I didn’t initially think it was unusual.
“But after what happened to Sophie I was terrified that I’d die like my best friend.” Aimee claims she was told by British Consulate staff to arrange urgent treatment for Danielle.
Danielle said: “I was taken to ICU and told I had necrosis. They attached a special vacuum to remove it.
“They gave me five blood transfusions. I honestly think if I hadn’t been treated for another day I would have died.
“I’m still struggling to process everything I’ve been through.”
The infection left a hand-sized hole in her stomach and was too big to be closed without a skin graft.
Danielle said tearfully: “I was promised a dream body but I’ve been left like a patchwork quilt.”
Now Danielle requires reconstructive surgery to repair the damage caused by the operation in Turkey, but she says she is too scared to go back under the knife.
She added: “I still haven’t processed what happened to us. I struggle to sleep now.
“I thought I was going to end up like my best friend and I sometimes wish that I had.” Sophie’s family are still waiting for official confirmation of what caused her death.
They have been told by medics in the local hospital ICU that she arrived with organ failure and suffered a cardiac arrest.
According to her medical paperwork, seen by The Sun, her pre-op ECG showed she had a heart rate of 132 beats per minute, the same as someone undertaking heavy exercise. The chart states this is “probably abnormal ECG”.
Danielle claims she and Sophie asked twice before they went in for surgery if everything was OK and were reassured.
Aimee said: “It’s been 15 months and we still don’t know what really happened. If Sophie hadn’t been there with a friend, who knows if we’d even have been told she’d died.
“I miss her every day, as do her children. She should have been here but instead we’re trying to pick up the pieces.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Turkey and are in contact with the local authorities.”
The Sun approached the cosmetic surgery clinic and the local hospital for comment but received no response.
When asked by The Sun about Sophie’s booking, a GNR representative denied all knowledge of Sophie’s case.
Messages sent to Aimee and Danielle came from the same phone number listed on the GNR website that we contacted for comment.
- * Danielle’s name has been changed.