Mother, 36, ‘died and came back to life’ after tummy tuck complication

After losing 15 stone (210 lbs), Sarah Dyson felt that she wasn’t able to truly enjoy her new figure due to heavy folds of excess skin. 

The mother-of-one, 36, from Sandbach in Cheshire, was delighted to have slimmed down from a UK size 26 to a slinky 12 to 14 over the course of two-and-a-half years, by sticking to a healthier diet. 

But after finally reaching her goal weight, the 5’8″ tall carer was left desperate to surgically remove the excess skin left behind from her mammoth weight loss, but was told it would cost her £17,000 to have the procedure done in the UK.

She said: ‘The skin [before I had the operation] was horrible. I hated it. I never felt like I’d lost 15 stone.

‘It stopped me from wearing clothes I wanted to wear all the time. I used to have a technique of tucking it in every morning, so it didn’t look bad.

‘I still felt like I was 15 stone heavier. I hid in baggy clothes still. I absolutely hated it. I couldn’t look in the mirror.’ 

Looking for a more affordable option, she flew from Manchester to Istanbul, Turkey on September 1 to undergo a tummy tuck, an arm lift and liposuction, spending £6,500.

While the operation went well, she said she noticed some swelling in her leg, but doctors assured it was normal, so she flew back home as planned on September 8.

The next day she suddenly experienced breathlessness, but as she had a GP appointment in two days, she brushed off any concerns until then.

At the appointment, her GP told her to rush to Leighton Hospital in Crewe where tests uncovered a blood clot in each lung and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in her left leg.

Her conditioned worsened after being admitted to hospital and she ended up going into cardiac arrest—having to be resuscitated twice.

Ms Dyson said: ‘While I was losing the weight I knew I wanted the skin removal, so I was doing research after research.

‘I chose who I was going with, booked it, then had the surgery. They did a fantastic job, but they just forgot to give me my blood thinners.

‘My vanity almost cost me my life.’ 

A DVT is when a clot forms in a deep vein, often in the legs, which can become dislodged and pass into the lungs, which can be fatal. 

Symptoms of DVT include pain, tenderness, swelling, warmth and skin discolouration in the affected area, often in the leg. 

Recalling the ordeal, she said: ‘When I landed on the Monday, I was fine, I was very swollen. I put it down to the flight because you can swell, can’t you? Especially after surgery you’re more prone to swelling.

‘On the Tuesday evening, I remember I was in the kitchen cooking my family their tea and I was out of breath just standing there. I wasn’t even moving, I was just stood in the kitchen cooking.

‘So, I went and sat down, and I just knew instantly that I had a clot on the lung. I just knew.

‘I ignored it because I had a doctor’s appointment on Thursday so they could check all the work I had done.

Ms Dyson added that her memories from the hospital are hazy: ‘All I remember is trying to strip off so I could breathe because I was panicking, asking the nurse not to let me die and I woke up in intensive care.

‘My friend came straight away because my mum and dad live in Manchester. They’re an hour away from me. They got a phone call to say you need to come and say goodbye.

‘The blood clot had travelled to the part of my lung that produces the oxygen, and I couldn’t get any oxygen around my body.

‘I am definitely thankful to be alive. I’m just glad I cannot remember dying.

‘I woke up in an induced coma with a tube down my throat. That was terrifying because I didn’t have a clue what had happened.’

Ms Dyson is recovering at home but says she will have to take blood thinners for the rest of her life and that the surgery was ‘not worth it at all’.

She said: ‘It has completely put me off cosmetic surgery. One mistake nearly cost me my life.’

Doctors have told her she cannot drive for the next two months while she recovers, so she has been forced to take time off from work.

Ms Dyson said: ‘I can’t work. I’ve been a carer for nine years. I’m sat at home worrying about how I’m going to pay my mortgage. I’ve just got to take every day as it comes.

‘It’s not worth it at all. I don’t regret the surgery, but I wouldn’t recommend it to a friend.

‘I feel like I’ve lost the 15 stone, but I also feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.’

The NHS outlines that the risk of clotting increases for four to six weeks after surgery but the risk is increased on ‘long journeys of more than four hours, particularly flying’. 

When Ms Dyson went to A&E, she claims doctors asked her if she’d been given blood thinners before flying, and when she said no, they said ‘they must have forgot’. 

She claims she has since tried to contact the Turkish clinic who treated her, but they have blocked her.

Warning others, she said: ‘No matter what surgery you have, you have blood thinners for so long and especially when you’ve got a flight home.

‘I definitely think the flight made things worse. You’re prone to blood clots on flights without surgery anyway but surgery and a flight, it’s deadly really, isn’t it?

‘I’m glad what happened when I got home and not in mid-air. If it would have happened on the flight I wouldn’t be here now.’