I watched my beautiful daughter starve to death after botched weight loss op in Turkey
A YOUNG mum-of-four “starved to death” after getting gastric sleeve surgery in Turkey last year.
Shannon Meenan-Browse, from Derry, was just 32 when she passed away on August 25 after an 18 month battle with the aftereffects of her surgery.
She flew to Turkey for the weight-loss procedure in February 2022.
But the procedure left her so ill she struggled to keep any food down, vomiting every time she ate.
Her dad Shane Meenan said it got the point where her teeth began to rot due to constantly being sick, and her hair began to fall out.
She was diagnosed with malnutrition, which medics at the Altnagelvin Hospital said was a result of her gastric sleeve surgery.
It resulted in multiple organ failure and the mum-of-four’s untimely death.
Shane told BBC Radio Foyle he’d lost his heart and soul along with his daughter.
“She left behind four beautiful children and we have to be strong now for them.”
Meanwhile, Shannon’s husband Don told how his wife’s death has been “soul destroying” for her family, speaking at her funeral.
The mum’s heartbroken family told Belfast Live that she had the surgery to help with weight loss, after her progress with exercising stalled due myopathy, a disease that weakens the muscles.
She travelled to Turkey with a friend to go under the knife but her health went gradually downhill just a couple weeks after returning home.
Her dad recalled painful details from the 18 months leading up to the young mum’s death, which came days before her youngest boy’s birthday.
He told Belfast Live: “She more or less starved the whole way through.”
Shannon suffered from cramps and pain and became ‘completely run down’.
All she could manage to eat was the broth from a cup noodle, her dad recalled.
Recalling his daughter’s ordeal, Mr Meenan said she couldn’t keep her vitamins – nor anything else – down.
“As each day passed, she was getting sicker and sicker.”
Shane said the only food his daughter could have without throwing up was broth from cup noodles – she couldn’t keep down solid food at all.
After continual trips to the doctors over dehydration, Shannon soon needed emergency surgery, he said.
The dad told the BBC: “We were told the malnutrition affected her liver and killed her liver… then she got sicker again and her kidneys stopped working,” he said.
“They then phoned us and told us she was dying and there was nothing they could do and all the machines were switched off.”
Now, he wants others who are thinking about travelling for surgery abroad to know about the risks involved.
Shane warned people could encounter difficulties with getting NHS treatment after having surgery abroad, saying: “When you come back here you’re on your own.”
He said it was hard to find a GP that would ‘really zone in’ on Shannon until she was very ill.
Meanwhile Derry-based GP, Dr Nicola Herron, told the BBC that health professionals in the UK “sometimes at a loss as to how to look after people” who’ve had weight loss surgery abroad, as it involves specialist care.
What does weight loss surgery involve?
There are a few types of weight loss surgery.
Shannon had what is called a sleeve gastrectomy, which involves removing a large part of stomach, making it much smaller than before.
“This means you cannot eat as much as you could before surgery and you’ll feel full sooner,” NHS guidance stated.
It warned that risks associated with this type of surgery can include difficulty swallowing, vomiting and, in some cases, serious illness and death.
Another type of weight loss operation is gastric band surgery, where a bad is placed around the stomach to create a small pouch that takes less food to fill.
To be have this type of surgery in the UK via the NHS, patients need to meet strict criteria, including having a body mass index over 40.
They’ll also need to have tried other weight loss methods such as dieting and exercise.