A fast food seller who got hooked on his own burgers before losing half his bodyweight is desperately trying to raise £8,000 – to remove two stone of saggy SKIN.
Chris Degnan, 32, tipped the scales at 27 stone after years of gorging on a daily diet of fry-ups, burgers and chips, all washed down with bottles of fizzy pop.
At his heaviest, Chris was munching a gut-busting 5,000 calories a day and had a BMI of 58 – which classed him as very severely obese.
He finally decided to fight the flab in February last year after concerned doctors told him he was eating himself to death.
Doctors suggested he have a gastric band fitted but he refused and instead started eating healthy high-protein dishes and working out at his local gym twice a day.
The dad-of-two has now lost a staggering 14 stone and dropped from a size 63-inch waist to a trim 36-inch.
But despite weighing 13 stone he has also been left with around two stone of saggy skin which he can’t shift through exercise alone.
He applied to have an operation to remove the excess skin on the NHS but was refused, so he is now trying to raise the £8,000 to have the op done privately.
Chris, who runs the Griddle Snack Bar in Sleaford, Lincs., said: “I have been told by my GP I can’t get skin removal on the NHS because of one factor – my Body Mass Index is not under 25, even when I explained I had gone from 59 to 28 with no help or bariatric surgery.
“I wrote to our MP Stephen Phillips who spoke to the CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group which funds the operations) and they wrote back to me saying there was only that one box I didn’t tick.
“I told them without the weight in the excess skin my BMI would probably meet the criteria but it didn’t do any good.
“In my mind I saved the NHS £10,000 when I turned down the gastric band surgery but have to pay £8,000 to have the excess skin removed myself.
“It has put me off running because of the noise of the skin flapping around.”
Chris celebrated getting his weight down to 16 stone by surprising his wife Emma, 28, by re-proposing to her in the gym on their eighth wedding anniversary.
The couple, who have children Hannah, eight and five-year-old son Kayden, renewed their marriage vows at a ceremony earlier this year.
Chris said: “My diet was terrible.
“It involved lots and lots of calories.
“Every day, I just ate what I wanted with little thought to my health.
“I have come this far without NHS help and now they are holding me back. It would just be nice to have the body to match.”
Pamela Palmer, Chief Nurse at South West Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We are unable to comment on individual cases however South West Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group has a responsibility in ensuring that its patient population is treated in a fair and equitable manner.
“It is for this reason that the CCG has a policy in relation to individual funding requests in place.
“This policy clearly identifies who is and who is not entitled to treatment and the associated criteria against which decisions are made this would include allowance for consideration of exceptional circumstances.
“We would advise any individual to contact their GP or other health professional to discuss whether or not a referral into the individual funding request process is warranted either now or in the future.”
CHRIS’ DIET BEFORE
Breakfast – Full English breakfast
Mid-morning – Can of fizzy drink and bar of chocolate
Lunch – Burger and chips
Dinner – Burger and chips or takeaway
TOTAL CALORIES: 5,000
CHRIS’ DIET NOW
Breakfast – Special K and omelette
Mid-morning – Apple
Lunch – Pasta, chicken and vegetables
Dinner – Pasta, tuna and vegetables
TOTAL CALORIES: 2,000
