'We watched our mum starve to death for 18 months after botched gastric surgery'
The grieving family of a British mum-of-four are speaking out to warn others of the dangers of gastric sleeve surgery abroad after they watched her slowly starve to death for months.
Shannon Meenan Browse, 32 and from Derry, died last week after she became unable to eat without vomiting in the weeks after her surgery. Her husband Don and father Shane revealed to Belfast Live that in her last few months her vomiting became so severe that her teeth rotted and her hair fell out. She died of multiple organ failure on August 25.
Despite originally losing weight through regular exercise with a personal trainer, Shannon had to stop her work outs when she was diagnosed with myopathy and was unable to continue due to poor mobility. It was at this point she made the decision to travel abroad with a friend for gastric sleeve surgery.
The NHS say the risks associated with this form of surgery can include difficulty swallowing, vomiting and in rare cases death. Upon returning home, Shannon's family say she lost the ability to eat solid foods and "went downhill gradually" until she had to be placed on life support at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry, before she sadly passed away following multiple organ failure.
Shannon and Don's four boys, a 14-year-old, twins aged seven and a five-year-old, have been left without a mother. Her death last Friday came just days before her youngest boy's birthday.
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On Monday, the grieving family marked the little boy's fifth birthday with candles and cake during Shannon's wake, at her parents' home in Creggan, as mourners sang him happy birthday.
Don said his wife's death has been "soul destroying" for the family and that "she more or less starved the whole way through". He explained how she had traveled abroad for the surgery when her weight loss was derailed by illness.
"She was doing well with the PT [personal training]," he said. "She lost nearly five stone, and then after she got the Covid jabs she got myopathy. She had to stop training and she was basically housebound. She had bother with her mobility."
She traveled for the surgery in February last year and Don said "a couple of weeks after she went downhill".
He explained: "The water from a pot noodle was all she was eating. She had cramps and pain, and she was throwing up so much her teeth were rotting from the acid in her stomach. She was completely run down and started losing all her hair."
We didn't know it was going to come to this. We would get a wee bit of hope when she would try to eat some more, but then it would be back to square one again. She couldn't handle solid food at all. It went on for 17 or 18 months."
On the risks associated with traveling abroad for weight loss surgery, Don said: "I want everybody to be aware, to do your research, and to be aware that all the bad reviews are taken off."
Shane added: "Everybody can see all the good sides, all the good reviews, but not the bad. You're taking a chance."
If you're worried about your health or the health of somebody else, you can contact SEED eating disorder support service on 01482 718130 or on their website, https://seedeatingdisorders.org.uk.
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