I splashed out on a £11K wedding makeover before my big day & lost 5 STONE in 12 weeks but being skinny almost killed me
Betty Hunt, 24, decided to have a gastric sleeve operation in November 2023, when she weighed 20st 3lbs - after putting on eight stone in eight months in 2020.
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Within just 12 weeks, Betty had lost an incredible five stone - plummeting from a size 24 to a size 8.
But she started to worry about the toll the weight loss had taken on her health when she started experiencing dizziness and couldn't keep her food down.
By January 2024, she weighed just 8st 4lbs, and was forced to have IV treatment for dehydration after waking up one morning unable to see properly - and with legs like "jelly".
And in February 2024 - just seven months before her wedding - Betty was diagnosed with Wernicke's encephalopathy, a life-threatening brain condition caused by a vitamin B1 deficiency.
"I thought I might not make it to my wedding," she sighed.
She ended up in James Cook University Hospital for four months on drips and having physio, and even considered rescheduling her wedding, but credits the "amazing" physios in hospital for helping her make it to her big day.
"One thing that my family were told is 'if I wasn't brought into hospital when I did go in I would have died within two weeks," she continued.
"Whenever I was taking any tablets, drinking any water, my protein shakes, any food, I was constantly throwing up.
"My legs had gone like jelly. I was numb from my boobs down. I couldn't feel anything."
Betty's family also said she was yellow because her liver, and her other organs, had started shutting down.
My grandparents lent me £3k for cut-price stomach surgery in Turkey - I nearly died
When it came to September and her nuptials, Betty had to use a crutch to walk down the aisle, and even had to sit down during her vows with now-husband Nathan Hunt, also 24.
Betty, from Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, said Nathan had to "hold her up" during their first dance, and she couldn't even dance with her bridesmaids later in the evening.
"I wanted to lose weight before my wedding, that was the whole reason why I wanted it done," she said.
"Seeing all of my bridesmaids, my friends and family up on the dance floor, I couldn't get up with them.
"It was really sad, I didn't have the wedding I thought I was going to. I couldn't just enjoy the night."
Now, Betty looks like a "different person" because of her weight loss, but it's come at a massive price.
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She's now unable to work, still can't wait unaided, has sight issues due to permanent nerve damage, and struggles to use her constantly shaking hands.
"I feel very angry because the reason why I got it done in the UK and paid a lot more money for the surgery was because I wanted to be safe and I wanted to make sure I had good aftercare," she explained.
"Looking back on it now it's scary because I was so oblivious that this could happen.
"I'd done so much research before actually getting the surgery done and this never came up ever."
Even after having the surgery, the company who did it were unconcerned by her admission that she'd been vomiting, telling her instead that her weight loss was "amazing".
"I was saying to them, 'it's good that I'm losing weight but I'm also not keeping anything down'," Betty said, adding that she hasn't heard from the company since January 2024.
"I have really shaky hands as well so pouring a kettle, writing, anything like that I can't do and with my eyesight I can't really see," she said.
"I've got no independence."
Betty has had to pause her physio because she's so weak from the weight loss, and has a feeding tube to help her get extra calories into her body.
She's hoping that when she can get back to physio, her treatment will help her gain muscle so that she can continue learning how to stand and walk independently.
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