Obese 23st mum tells Jeremy Kyle how she was almost driven to suicide before getting life-changing gastric bypass surgery on the NHS
Bridget Foley struggled with her weight since childhood - and took to comfort eating while suffering from depression
AN obese mum has told Jeremy Kyle how her size drove her to consider suicide, just minutes before undergoing life-changing gastric band surgery.
Bridget Foley tipped the scale at 23st, despite being just 5ft 1in tall, and suffered from diabetes and other obesity-related illnesses.
The Newcastle lass was speaking to Jezza at the Sunderland Royal Hospital, where she was having the NHS-funded surgery.
The daytime chat show host, and his TV cameras, even watched from the wings as Bridget went under the knife.
Speaking just minutes earlier, she sobbed as she revealed: “I was just sick of myself. I spoke to my daughter, and I had my tablets next to us and I told her ‘I’ve had enough’.”
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When Kyle asked if she was planning to kill herself, Bridget responded: “Yeah.”
Speaking of her spiralling eating habits Bridget, who had struggled with her weight since childhood and comfort ate because of depression, said: “It got gradually worse, to the point where I was grabbing the wrong things all the time.
“And you think ‘I’m just gonna stuff my face, because I’ve had it with life’.
“And then grab again the wrong things, the takeaways, and feel great thinking ‘ooh I’ll just have this’.
“But then the next day you look at all the takeaway boxes and think to yourself…”
Jeremy asked her: ";To the detractors who would say ‘she doesn’t deserve it. Ate that much, lived off the state. Why should we be paying for it?’ what would you say?"
And Bridget responded: "I would say, you’ve got every right to say that, because you are paying your taxes.
"But I would also say maybe live with someone who’s suffering that for a week. And you’ll see it’s not just about food. There’s a lot of things behind it that make you do it."
Jeremy also spoke to consultant surgeon Peter Small, who performs up to 100 weight loss procedures every year.
He said: "I help people get their lives back. I change people’s lives. I used to do cancer surgery, I reckon I save more lives now."
Dr Small gave Bridget keyhole surgery, which took between three and four hours, and created a small pouch at the top of her stomach - about the size of an egg.
Dr Small divided Bridget's stomach, creating a small pouch with a staple gun.
He also created a new stomach, on the left, which would be filled up by 50cm, or less than a cup of food.
The surgery should add between nine and 12 years to Bridget's life expectancy, while Dr Small reckons it's "one of the best investments the NHS can make".
The Kyle Files: Extreme Eaters is on ITV1 on Monday (February 27) at 8pm.