GIGANTIC Paul Mason yesterday told how he tried to kill himself three times
because of the guilt he felt at becoming the world’s fattest man.
Ashamed by his staggering care bill — which would reach an incredible
£1.5million — he twice took an overdose of powerful pain-killers.
But because his body was so huge the massive amounts failed to harm his
organs — and he just woke afterwards feeling even more depressed than he had
been before.
Later, after being told a gastric bypass op that would ensure he lost weight
was being cancelled, Paul slashed his wrists.
He was too massive to be transported to hospital, so an emergency team of
paramedics and doctors raced to his specially-adapted bungalow in Ipswich,
Suffolk… and saved him.
Paul, who had become the world’s fattest man as his weight headed towards 70
stone, said: “The world was a very dark place for me. I was locked in a
prison of my own making.
“I was stuck in one room, addicted to food. I felt such a burden and decided
to end it all.”
Paul had been suffering from mouth abscesses and his GP had given him some
strong painkillers. But instead of using them to ease the discomfort in his
mouth he took an overdose hoping to end it all.
Paul went on: “I closed my eyes and was relieved that I would never wake up
again and wouldn’t cause any more bother.
“But I opened my eyes the next morning and felt no pain, only a bit more
depressed. I could not believe it. Because of my weight, I was about 64
stone then, the medication had no impact.
“I felt even more depressed and took another overdose. This didn’t work either
— I hit rock bottom.”
Another five years passed before Paul was given the hope of getting the
gastric op he longed for.
In that time Paul had been a prisoner in his own home, unable to do anything
for himself.
He even missed his mother Janet’s funeral in 2009 because he was too fat to be
transported there. Believing he was about to get the op, he managed to lose
six stone to ensure he was in the best possible state for surgery. But then
his hopes were dashed.
Paul, 50, said: “After promising me the operation the health trust said they
were withdrawing funding. They also said they were going to stop my carers
because bending over my giant bed could be classed as a health and safety
risk.
“I was shattered and cut my wrists. I thought there was no way out. But I was
too big to get to hospital, so the medical team had to come to me.”
Paul finally got his life-saving op — which drastically reduced the size of
his stomach — in the spring of last year.
Paul said: “I had heard about a surgeon, Shaw Somers. He was the best in his
field.
“I feared he would say I was too big for the operation, but it was my only
hope. The first time he came to my home and saw me he couldn’t quite believe
it.
“He’d never seen anyone my size. He was astonished that my body hadn’t given
up years ago, and couldn’t believe that I didn’t have diabetes or blood
pressure like most super-obese patients.”
The op would cost the NHS £30,000. And on top of that there were other bills.
Before he could even set foot in St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester, West
Sussex, its floors had to be reinforced at a cost of £5,000.
Health and Safety officials feared the first-floor operating theatre would
collapse beneath Paul’s bulk.
A jumbo ambulance — dubbed a jumbulance — had to be built with reinforced
floors and equipment to take Paul there. The conversion cost £90,000.
Paul’s yearly care bill alone was a staggering £100,000, bringing the total
for the past 12 years to £1.5million.
But with the prospect of the annual costs carrying on and on the op finally
got the OK.
Mr Somers — who heads up a special unit at St Richard’s which is the only UK
centre capable of weight-loss surgery on Paul’s scale — warned there was a
50/50 chance he would die on the operating table.
The op went ahead and Paul’s stomach was stapled and reduced to the size of an
egg.
He now survives on mouse-like portions of 2,000 calories a day — compared to
the 20,000 calories he once consumed. Paul — down to 37 stone — now has a
small slice of toast for breakfast, a bowl of soup for lunch and a meagre
portion of meat and two veg for dinner. And he has vowed never to go back to
his old ways. Mr Somers said: “Paul is the biggest a human can get before
they drop dead. He is doing incredibly well.”
But he said Paul’s case should act as a lesson for Britain.
Mr Somers went on: “As a nation we have become bigger — we need to tackle food
addiction head on. A good start would be taxing processed foods.
“But we need a government brave enough to do it. If they don’t act soon the
NHS is going to buckle… and collapse under the weight of obese patients.”
BRITAIN’S Fattest Man is screened tonight at 9.35pm on Channel 4