A woman who lost over eight stone hoping to qualify for an NHS reduction op on her 44M boobs has been left in agony after being turned down.
Marie Pickstock, 44, pleaded for help because her breasts were so enormous she could barely walk.
Doctors told the mother-of-two, who weighed 22 stones, she had to lost weight if she hoped to qualify for taxpayer-funded surgery.
She shed 8st 6lb in two years by cutting out greasy feasts like takeaway pizzas and kebabs and went down to 13 and a half stone.
But when she went back to the doctors they told her she didn’t qualify for a breast reduction because her case wasn’t extreme enough.
Marie is still burdened with 36L breasts she says have effectively made her disabled because of her limited mobility.
She has dropped an incredible 14 dress sizes around her waist which is a size ten – but still has to wear size 26 outfits because of her huge upper body.
Fed-up Marie now says she was better off when she was FAT because at least she had her huge stomach to rest her boobs on and take the weight off her back.
She said: “I feel really let down by the NHS because I stuck to my side of the bargain.
“The doctor said I had to help myself first, which I have done. So why won’t they give me a breast reduction?
“I’ve saved the taxpayer thousands by losing weight through dieting and not asking for a gastric band.
“I’m not asking the NHS for this operation for cosmetic reasons. My breasts are ruining my life.
“I have no confidence. I don’t like showing myself to anyone and I refuse to undress in front of my husband.
“I should be super confident and proud of my new slim body, but instead I feel horrible.
“My boobs are so big I feel like I am going to topple forwards. At least when I was bigger the fat balanced me out and I could actually walk better.”
Marie also says she has been told she is at greater risk of breast cancer because the SIX mammograms images she needs for each boob are so unreliable.
Marie, a full-time mum from Lancing, West Sussex has suffered with abnormally large breasts since she was a schoolgirl.
She was a DD before her school friends even started wearing bras then shot up to a huge 44M when she became obese.
Her weight ballooned when she started comfort eating and would have burger or sausage with chips every day.
After years of debilitating back pain and reduced mobility she approached medics about a breast reduction in 2011.
They told her under strict NHS guidelines she would only be entitled to the #7,000 procedure if she lost considerable weight first.
Marie enlisted the support of her overweight husband Paul, a 47 year-old service engineer and their two daughters Donna, 21, and Danielle, 19.
Between them the four shed over 30 stone: Paul went from 22 stones to 14, travel money advisor Donna from 19 to 11st 6lbs and student Danielle from 17st 8lbs to 11st 6lbs.
But Marie’s breasts have barely shrunk and she says she suffers from severe angina and needs strong painkillers four times a day to manage her back and neck pain.
She said a private consultant estimated she would lose three stones if she had a breast reduction and take her weight down to a healthy 10st 7lb.
Her local Tory MP Tim Loughton, the member for East Worthing and Shoreham, has promised to look at her case.
An NHS West Sussex spokesman said: “Our Clinical Commissioning Group, and that of its predecessor body the primary care trust, is clear that breast reduction surgery is not a procedure routinely available on the NHS.
“If a patient feels they need this treatment, their clinician would have to make an application to a specialist panel for individual funding demonstrating that there are exceptional clinical circumstances why the patient should receive the treatment outside of the policy.
“We understand Mrs Pickstock’s case was considered three times by the specialist panel run by the former primary care trust in 2011 and 2012 and it found no clinical evidence that Mrs Pickstock’s case was exceptional.
“We appreciate this is disappointing for Mrs Pickstock, particularly after her recent weight loss, but would like to make it clear a patient’s weight is not taken into consideration as part of this process.
“As commissioners, we ensure that local health professionals are informed about the process for applications for treatments such as this, and we are sorry if the policy was not made clear to Mrs Pickstock at the time.”
