The Team
The WLSinfo Team comprises both Moderators and Committee members and officers, all of whom give their time to the site and charity on a voluntary basis. Here's who they are:
Bianca
Bianca had open RNY in August 2004 with Mr Stephen Pollard in Leeds. Within the first twelve months Bianca had halved her body weight. The journey was not all plain sailing though, she had a DVT, open wound, incisional hernia and then overshot her weight loss and had to work hard with her surgeon to come back to a weight she felt more comfortable with. Bianca also had an abdominoplasty and breast augmentation in 2008, along with a further hernia repair. Despite the hitches, Bianca feels her weight loss journey has been well worth it and she would do it all again in a heartbeat. Six years on Bianca works hard every day to maintain her weighloss, and loves the new lease of life that weight loss surgery has given her.
As well as being a team member Bianca is a member of the Committee and is also the National Support Group Manager, which involves co-ordinating the 20 affiliated support groups in the UK, providing support, guidance and advice to the local group co-ordinators.
carol Mc
I have been overweight all my adult life and been to every diet club numerous times lost loads of weight but always put it right back on and with interest. I’ve taken tons of slimming drugs all of which worked until I stopped them and tried every faddy diet known to man.
At 5’ 2” and 17stone 10lbs my weight was really affecting my health. I was all aches and pains, had asthma and frequent chest infections, serious longterm depression and was on the verge of diabetes.
In March 2008 whilst I was off work with yet another chest infection and shingles I came across an article about gastric banding on the internet and without doing any research or even talking it over with my family I telephoned and made an appointment with my surgeon. Things happened really fast and within a week I was seen and booked in for surgery for April.
However, this wasn’t to be as during a pre op assessment over the telephone I told the nurse I had been taking steroids for a chest infection so the op had to be postponed till June. I still had done no research or had any advice and only my husband and children knew I was doing this and they thought I had lost the plot.
On the morning of my op I was waiting to see the anaesthatist when I overheard two other ladies talking about this site. They were really well informed and told me how great and supportive wlsinfo was. This was truly the best bit of info I have come across.
Op went fine so home I went and immediatley joined the site. Best thing ever......This is where I have found ALL my information and support. Without the site and the support group I would have undoubtably failed as truly knew nothing and had no aftercare. As it is I have lost most of my excess weight and am slimmer and fitter than I have been since I was a teenager. I run and play in the park with my grandsons, I’m not breathless anymore, my aches and pains have disappeared and I feel I have my life back.
It hasn’t all been easy and could have gone so very wrong for me seeing as I went into it blind but throught the guidance and advice of this community my wls has been a great success
fraggle73
Kirstie started gaining weight at the age of about 15 and joined her first slimming club at this age. This started a life of yo-yo dieting and she gained weight steadily through her teens and twentys, including gaining weight with her first two pregnancies. She also tried slimming pills from her GP which also failed to help her lose weight. After giving birth to her second child she went to ask her GP for help again and he decided to refer her for Weight Loss Surgery.
Kirstie had open Gastric Bypass RNY surgery in April 2008 with Mr Somers at St Richards Hospital, Chichester. On the day of her surgery she weighed just over 32 stones and had a BMI of 75. In the first 15 months she lost 14 stones and 10lbs. Recently she has had another baby and this pregnancy was so much easier now that she had lost so much weight. Kirstie has gained approximately a stone and is trying very hard to get back on track as she would still like to lose about six stones. She has been extremely lucky with her recovery and can eat most foods without problems.
Kirstie says, "Having WLS has, without doubt, been the best decision I have ever made and I would do it all again in a heartbeat."
Jacky
Jacky was always a bit bigger than her friends at school and thought it was just the way things were always going to be. In her late teens she lost weight with diet and exercise but soon put it back on and a pattern of losing and gaining followed. After trying a lot of diets, including pills, she joined the site in 2005 weighing over 17 stone at 5'2".
Deciding on going to Belgium for a gastric band fitted By Dr Christian De Bruyne, she lost seven and a half stone to reach her goal weight and have a BMI of 25. Eighteen months later the weight has stayed off and she has had plastic surgery to correct loose skin on her abdomen.
Jayjay
Jayne had RNY gastric bypass surgery in July 2004. From a starting weight on the morning of surgery of 24 stone 8lbs she now weighs 11stone 13lbs and although this can bounce up and down by a few pounds she has maintained for over 18 months.
Jayne says "having surgery was all about fitting into society and feeling normal, as well as the obvious health improvements that have come about as a result of the weight loss. I now have a much fuller life, much more self confidence and I take a more proactive approach to living".
The large and rapid weight loss has left Jayne with a considerable amount of excess skin. Jayne had an abdominoplasty in June 2007 and this was revised in 2008.
While WLS has made major improvements to Jayne's everyday living, it's the little things that give her the most pleasure, from being able to sit comfortably on a plane to being able to bend down with ease and, believe it or not, enjoying housework.
Jayne is a member of the Committee and is also the site's Forum Manager.
Jeanettekaren
Jeanette had a gastric band fitted in March 2005 at the age of 28. Although overweight in childhood, her weight seriously started increasing after leaving home and going to University. After two years' living with her band she finally reached a normal weight and, although hard work, this was the first time she had succeeded in losing and keeping off a significant amount of weight long term. She completed her transformation in September 2007 by travelling to Belgium for an abdominoplasty and breast uplift.
The gastric banding operation has lead to her doing things she would never have imagined. She travelled to Africa for volunteer work at a Lion Park near Johannesburg where she cared for lion cubs aged between a few weeks and six months old. She says "I would never have had the confidence to do this when I was overweight". She was surprised to find that she now enjoys exercise and has taken part in some 5km runs for charity and a 60 mile bike ride raising money for Christie's cancer hospital in Manchester, One of her ambitions is to complete the New York marathon which she hopes to fulfil in the next few years.
Katypotatie
Overweight as a child and teenager, rather than making long term changes to her eating and exercise, Kate started yo-yo dieting which would continue on and off for 25 years. Each time that weight was lost it was quickly re-gained and a little more added on top.
Kate had her RNY in November 2008 aged 35 when she realised that her right knee was starting to complain about her weight and that it was very possible she would develop diabetes. Apart from that she has two young sons that she wanted to be able to keep up with!
She has so far lost more than 10 and a half stones from her heaviest weight and is in training for a 10K race but would still like to lose just a little bit more whilst saving up for plastic surgery some time in the next year or two.
As well as being a moderator on the forums and in the chat room, Kate is particularly interested and involved in the technical side of the website.
Kclare
Ken had RNY gastric bypass in 2002 and revision surgery in 2008. He set up the site and later the charity that grew from it. His journey is well documented in many other places on the forum. He is the Chairman of the Committee and takes lead for liaison with healthcare professionals and the media. In the little free time he has he enjoys photography and fresh air.
Lee26
I can remember going on my first diet at 11 because we had to start having showers after PE. That was the start of a cycle of yo yo dieting for the next 20 years. Somewhere in my mid thirties I decided enough was enough and stopped dieting resulting in a steady weight gain over the next 15 years . By the time I decided to have surgery I had type 2 diabetes, hypertension, lymphodema, my weight severely limited every aspect of my life and had I not gone for surgery I probably wouldn’t have lived to see my fiftieth birthday. After an initial consultation in Sept 07 I started the WLS surgery programme at Luton & Dunstable hospital Jan 08 and had an RNY August 08 with Mr Whitelaw. To date I have lost 12 stone and whilst it hasn’t been an easy journey I have no regrets. It wasn’t until I started loosing weight that it dawned on me just how restricted my life had become due to obesity - my RNY has given me my life back.
MagentaJo
Jo was an overweight child who grew into an overweight teenager who became an overweight adult. She had some success losing weight with various slimming organisations during her adult life but always regained what she had lost, plus interest. This was a pattern which repeated itself many times and then, in the summer of 2008 she decided that enough was enough and, after doing some research, decided to have a gastric band fitted to help her not only lose weight, but keep it off once and for all. Jo considered herself to be fortunate because, despite her weight and age (over 50) she was fairly active and in good health but she knew she was storing up health related problems for the future and she wanted to do something about this before it was too late. She joined this site in August 2008 and also became a member of the local WLSinfo Support Group gaining valuable information both pre and post op. Jo continues to pursue her love of swimming and has registered to do the Great North Swim in Lake Windermere in 2010. In the past 14 months since her weight loss surgery she has lost almost five stones but her story is not complete so watch this space as they say.
Meatcruncher
Mike was a fat baby, fatter toddler, overweight child, obese adolescent and morbidly obese adult. He was put on his first diet aged 8 which started a cycle of yoyo dieting with inevitably larger gains than losses each time. Reaching a maximum of nearly 31 stones in October 2007, with a number of co-morbidities, Mike had a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and after 18 months of rapid weight loss, he has managed to maintain his weight at around 13 stones.
He did suffer from severe constipation which started about 7 months after the RNY, causing quite bad internal damage which required two rounds of surgery to ease (but not completely cure) the problem. His rapid weight loss also caused significant loose skin so he underwent a fleur-de-lis abdominoplasty with full abdominal muscle sheath repair in July 2009, from which it has taken many months to recover, but he feels that the downsides of WLS have been enormously outweighed by the benefits. He now enjoys generally good health, being able to walk (a lot) more than a few yards, fitting in aeroplane seats and generally appearing “normal” for the first time in his life.
Mike is a moderator on the site and joint co-ordinator of the Mid-Kent Support Group.
Nikki
Nikki had her RNY with Mr Somers in June 2006 and has been a member of the site since August 2004. As a type 1 diabetic with high blood pressure and a history of infertility problems and miscarriage, her doctor decided weight loss surgery was the only solution to improve her quality of life and reduce the risks of long term complications from her diabetes and obesity. The surgery was a complete success and to date she has lost a total of 11 1/2 stone.
9 Months after surgery Nikki fell pregnant at last and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on 1st September 2007. Nikki says "I firmly believe that I would never have had my precious baby girl without weight loss surgery." Nikki is no longer taking blood pressure medication and only requires small amounts of insulin to control her diabetes and is extremely happy with her choice of surgery.
Silverdragon102
Anna had her RNY July 2005. She started putting weight on about age 9-10 and since leaving school and working had tried most diets with little success, managing to lose weight for a while and then put it back on plus more. Anna says "Since my surgery I have a lot more energy, I enjoyed a move abroad with my husband and dogs, and I have no regrets whatsoever about my op, but I do have many thanks to a friend for telling me about the RNY."
Spaniel Lover
Jean had been overweight since infancy and always felt different. She started her first diet when she was 13 and yoyo dieted for the next 40 years, becoming increasingly obese. She chose to have weight loss surgery after her health had deteriorated to the point of being life threatening. At the time she had her surgery she had Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, asthma, depression and anxiety and had extremely limited mobility due to chronic back pain and arthritis.
She joined the site in February 2007 and also joined an affiliated support group both of which offered tremendous support and access to information. She had a DS with Simon Dexter in Leeds, partly funded by the PCT and the rest self funded.
Jean says "The health improvements have been staggering. I no longer require a wheelchair or mobility scooter to go out, I have normal blood pressure, am no longer considered to have diabetes and as my weight fell away so did my depression and anxiety. Since my surgery I have been parasailing, swam with dolphins and ridden a horse for the first tme in my life. I have had lots of holidays to far away places simply because I can. I was 53 when I had my DS and firmly believe we are never too old to put our health needs first."
Her BMI was 63 at the point of surgery and is currently 28, which represents a loss of 15st 5lbs. She is continuing to lose weight slowly. She says "The decision to have weight loss surgery was one of the best of my life and I'm grabbing hold of life and living it to the full. My only regret is that I didn't have it done sooner".
