AGONY: 'Pain from hospital procedure made me wish I was dead'

Victoria Adams, 39, has launched a fundraising appeal to help get her mesh removed, after experiencing a series of painful symptoms which she says 'made me wish I was dead.'

Miss Adams, from Standlake, says ‘no words can ever show or tell how much pain I have been in for nearly four years’.

National Campaign Sling The Mesh have criticised Oxfordshire University Health Trust for continue to offer the treatment.

Miss Adams' story follows news that women in Oxfordshire are taking legal action against the trust after claiming to have suffered ‘catastrophic’ side effects.

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Describing years of severe daily pain, depression and a diagnosis with post-traumatic stress disorder, Miss Adams said: “I never had any of these symptoms before. I was an active woman with no pain.

“(Now) I've lost my love for life and going out - my soul is destroyed and controlled by chronic pain.

“It reduces me to tears almost every day.

Mesh has been blamed for a host of issues, including chronic pain, the loss of sex lives and mobility problems by thousands of women nationwide. The implants have reportedly cut into women’s bladders, bowels and vaginas.

The trust said that the mesh - implanted through her stomach in 2014 - was not to blame for Miss Adams' pain.

But now she has launched a fundraising page to raise roughly £10,000 to have the mesh removed and has gone public with her story to increase awareness of the issue, help other women and add to pressure on the government get all mesh banned.

Founder of Sling The Mesh Kath Sansom said: "The saddest part of Victoria's story is that this is the type of prolapse mesh which surgeons are desperately trying to save because they say it is safe and effective.

"Vaginally placed prolapse mesh was effectively banned in December 2017, but the operation Victoria had was abdominally placed, which is still being used in Oxford. Surgeons across the UK assure women it is ok.

"Yet it is the same offending polypropylene plastic material, supporting the same organs, sitting in the same vaginal vault. The material can shrink, harden, twist, slice through organs, tissues and nerves.”

She continued: "Pro-mesh surgeons believe that because Victoria's mesh type is implanted via the tummy that makes it lower risk. However, in our experience - of more than 6,500 members - we see far too many women like Victoria with shattered lives from this type of mesh.

"The impact is incredibly cruel and unacceptable.”

Miss Adams, who says sleeplessness and morphine have reduced her to a ‘zombie-like’ state, explained: “Three weeks after this mesh was fitted I was back in hospital.

“I was in pain and no one would listen to me saying ‘it’s the mesh’... I was told it was constipation (and) made to feel like I was lying.

“The service received made me so angry I had to get out of the hospital who put me in this mess and wouldn’t take ownership.

“I have been totally let down by [the JR] and doctors never listening.”

Partner Tim Wyatt added: "To see my fiancé go from such a bubbly, lovely person down to such depression is horrific and horrifying and the fact is that a lot of other women have it too."

In a statement, the Trust said: “The Trust has not carried out vaginal mesh operations (where mesh is inserted through the vagina) for prolapse since 2010.

“The Trust continues to offer abdominal mesh procedures for women who choose this treatment for treating pelvic organ prolapse.

“The Trust has fully complied with the recent requirements to establish high vigilance scrutiny protocols to ensure that abdominal mesh procedures are only undertaken by surgeons who are trained and experienced in the procedures, are collecting outcomes data, are submitting data to the national registry, and are reviewing all cases in multi-disciplinary meetings to ensure women understand the full range of available treatment options.

“In addition, the surgeons in question have published their outcomes data for abdominal mesh procedures undertaken. The Trust continues to act as a tertiary centre for the removal of mesh from women who have suffered complications.”

For more information, or to donate, visit Victoria’s fundraising page at bit.ly/2PR8rgf