![]() ‘Baby no matter what they say I love you, skin and all,’ Luke said as he cuddled me. ‘Another rejection?’ Luke asked when he saw me curled up on the bed crying. But when the thin envelope arrived on the twins’ fifth birthday all my hopes were crushed. Even my doctors assured me they were certain it would be approved. Luke convinced me to try to get the surgery approved by the NHS one more time in 2013. And when I gave birth to my fourth child, Ezri-Rose in 2012 money only got tighter. I was a full time mum taking care of our children and Luke was a lift engineer supporting our family on his income alone. I knew paying for the surgery ourselves was out of the question. ‘If I could afford the GBP8,000 for the surgery I would pay for it myself. ‘It’s okay baby, you just have to keep trying,’ Luke soothed. ‘I mean the NHS are funding boob jobs for women without anything wrong, but I can’t even get my deformed body fixed!’ Meryl needs to raise £10,000 to transform her body They keep saying my case doesn’t set me apart from anyone else who wants the surgery. ‘Why won’t they approve the surgery,’ I cried to Luke. I applied again for abdominoplasty but was rejected a third time. Luke and I got pregnant in 2008 and I gave birth to our twins Ella-Mae and Finlay. I tried again in 2007 but was rejected, despite my meeting all the NHS requirements. He also encouraged me to reapply for the surgery. He had seen me at my biggest and my smallest point – and no matter my size thought I was beautiful. We started dating not long after and he was such a boost to my confidence. That’s when I realised he was the kind of man I could fall for. Luke sat by my hospital bed all through the night. ‘You being here means so much to me,’ I said. ‘I thought you could use the company,’ he smiled. ![]() Meryl is saving up for surgery after the state health service turned her down I was all alone when Luke, 28, walked in with flowers and a bunch of magazines under his arm. One night I had such a severe panic attack my mum called 999 and I was taken to hospital. On my worst days I could not leave the house. I was struggling with depression and anxiety. It was 2006 when Luke, who was just a good friend at the time, became my shoulder to cry on. I exercised and ate healthily, but no matter what I did nothing fixed the excess skin or my boobs. It stated my BMI was too high and to reapply after maintaining a healthy BMI for a year. But when I got a letter in the post from the NHS refusing my application for the surgeries I was distraught. I was sent to another specialist who recommended plastic surgery, including a tummy tuck and breast enlargement, to repair the damage done to my body. When I returned home I thought my nightmare had ended. I was booked in for surgery and spent a week in hospital. ‘We have to do this to save you,’ he said. Luke was Meryl’s rock throughout all of the low points ‘If we don’t take the gland out, it is going to kill you.’ I burst into tears. My specialist told me, ‘Meryl we need to perform a thyroidectomy as soon as possible. Eventually I was referred to a specialist at Leicester Royal Infirmary hospital when doctors realised the medication wasn’t working. I spent many days crying myself to sleep instead of enjoying being 18. I was left with flabs of skin hanging from my tummy, arms and legs. But because the weight dropped off so quickly the drastic change devastated my body. I lost over seven stone in just six months, which sounds great to most people. ![]() I was put on prescription medication to try to regulate the gland, but over the next five months I continually lost weight. ‘Let’s go then.’ After a few blood tests I was finally diagnosed with an overactive thyroid. ‘Whoa mum, I wouldn’t want to argue with you,’ I laughed. ‘We aren’t leaving until we get answers.’ ‘This isn’t normal and I’m going to demand the doctor runs some tests. ![]() I was talking on the phone to my mum, explaining how I felt when she said, ‘Meryl we need to take you back to the GP. By 2005 I started having severe heart palpitations, sickness, exhaustion and black outs. I piled on the pounds and gained six stone – growing to a massive 20 stone. Throughout my teens I jumped up and down in weight until I turned 16 and fell pregnant with my daughter Amelia, now ten, in 2004. We had a history of thyroid problems in my mum’s family. ![]() My mum Corin, 59, initially thought it was growth spurts but brought me to the GP to get my thyroid tested. My nightmare started when I was just a child. I looked like an OAP – all because a thyroid condition ate away at my body from the inside out. All it would take was a simple turn of the door and he would see the wrinkles and folds – a 28-year-old trapped in an 80-year-old granny’s body. Even after eight years together I could not handle him seeing me naked. ‘Yeah I’ll be there in just a minute,’ I called back. ![]()
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