York man receives stomach stapling op

5:20pm Sunday 7th September 2008

A FATHER-OF-TWO who was denied life-saving weight-loss surgery and feared his obesity would kill him before he was 60 has finally had an operation to slim him down.

Philip Cooper, 42, of Woodthorpe, York, was in York Hospital for six days, during which his stomach was stapled, reducing it to the size of an egg.

Mr Cooper, who weighed 19.5 stone just prior to the operation, says he has already lost weight as a result of the surgery.

“I’m relieved it’s done – it’s a relief after all this wait,” he said.

“It’s a relief for my family as well. In certain places you can see I’ve already lost weight - my wife’s noticed it and my mother’s noticed it. I think I’ll now live longer than I would have done if I hadn’t had the operation.” When asked how much weight he expected to lose, Mr Cooper, who has two sons, Dean, nine, and Sean, two, said: “I would have thought they would want me down to the ideal weight for my height which is about ten or 11 stone.”

Mr Cooper, who works as a fork lift truck driver in Wetherby, described the doctor who performed his operation as a “miracle worker”, and thanked hospital staff.

“I was treated great,” he said. “It wasn’t a bad experience at all. The staff at the hospital were fantastic – you can’t knock them at all. But I feel they don’t get any support from the Government – they’re under-staffed and underpaid.” Dr Peter Brambleby, the director of public health at North Yorkshire & York Primary Care Trust (PCT), said: “Bariatric (weight loss) surgery should always be viewed as a last option. Tackling obesity at all levels is one of the PCT’s main public health objectives. The PCT is currently consulting on a North Yorkshire and York ‘Healthy Weight, Active Lives’ strategy which covers the prevention and management of overweight through to clinically significant obesity in children and adults – which is on our website www.nyypct.nhs.uk and we would welcome feedback.

“Alongside this we will continue to reduce overall levels of obesity for example by promoting ways to enjoy a healthier lifestyle including advice on exercise and healthy eating.”

We reported in January last year how Mr Cooper was told the PCT had suspended the gastric band operation he had been waiting for, and that he would be removed from the waiting list. The PCT suspended the commissioning of morbid obesity surgery in 2006 while a review was carried out. We told later how the trust had since recommissioned the surgery, and that Mr Cooper was back on the waiting list for an operation to help him lose weight.

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