Shrewsbury hospital stomach op gave me my life back, says Jim, 40

Jim Findler had gastric bypass surgery at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. He had been extremely unhappy with his weight and appearance and unable to lead an active life with his two children.

The 40-year-old said: "The surgery has given me a new lease of life. My confidence and my outlook on life are both so much better now. I'm happy and content in how I look now.

"If I carried on the way I was going I probably wouldn't have made it to 45 but now I hope to live into my 80s or 90s.

"I can enjoy so much more with my children and go walking, swimming and bike rides with them and we also play football. They absolutely love the change in me.

"The surgery was carried out by John Loy and I feel I owe him everything. I owe him my life."

In his youth Jim, who recently got engaged to partner Jayne Allen, was fit and active, regularly going to the gym.

But in his mid-20s he put on a lot of weight unexpectedly. His GP told him he had metabolic insulin resistance.

"It meant my body stored the sugars and fats every-time I ate, which meant I put on a lot of weight," said Jim, who runs his own property services firm.

Over the coming years Jim tried diets and was given a food diary to monitor what he ate but his weight continued to grow.

He hoped to have bariatric surgery but it was never approved for him.

Jim, who has a nine-year-old daughter, Lily, and eight-year-old son, Jacob, said: "In 2014 it was the last straw for me. I went for a routine appointment with the hospital I was with at the time and they wouldn't carry out the surgery unless I had lost weight when I saw them at two consecutive appointments.

"I had lost weight the first time I saw them but by the second time I had put weight back on. It meant I'd have to wait another three months to see if I lost my weight. I felt that if I had the surgery it would work for me but without it I might continue to put on weight.

"I saw a psychiatrist who agreed to put me forward to a meeting where they would determine if I could have the surgery and Mr Loy was there. He offered to take me on and I'm incredibly grateful to him for that."

Jim, who travelled to Shropshire from his home in Bilston, Wolverhampton, had the surgery in October last year and since then he has lost 9.5 stone – with his weight falling from nearly 25 stone to just over 15 stone.

"My weight affected my state of mind. I wore clothes that didn't fit me because I tried to hide how I looked.

"I had bad skin and was heavily depressed and would get very upset," he said.

"I had sleep apnoea which meant I didn't get much sleep and had trouble breathing. I'd go downstairs while my family was asleep and sit with pains in my chest, struggling to breathe and wondered if this was it for me and I was going to have a massive heart attack.

"Since the surgery I'm really happy with life."

A gastric bypass uses special surgical staplers to create a small pouch at the top of a person's stomach. This pouch is then connected directly to a section of their small intestine, bypassing the rest of the stomach and bowel. This means it takes less food to make a person feel full and they also absorb fewer calories from the food they eat.

Mr Loy, a bariatric surgeon at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, said: "It has been a real privilege to be a part of Jim's weight loss journey. He has shown what can be achieved through motivation to change along with having a gastric bypass.

"He's an inspiration and I'm delighted at how happy he has become since having the surgery."

Mr Loy is one of the most respected bariatric surgeons in the country.

It was revealed earlier this year that Telford & Wrekin has England's highest rate of surgery for obesity, with 46 in every 100,000 people going under the knife to lose weight.

That is five times the national average and comes as the county is fighting a surge in weight-related diabetes.

Stoke-on-Trent had the second highest surgery rate, with 41 in every 100,000 people receiving bariatric surgery.

In North Staffordshire, the figure was 30 per 100,000.

While obesity is less of a problem in rural Shropshire, it soars in urban Telford & Wrekin, according to figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

The figures relate to a 10-month period to February this year.