Chamber and committees

Anonymous submission of 30 June 2021

PE1865/Y - Suspend all surgical mesh and fixation devices

I was given a Tension-free Vaginal Tape Obturator (TVTO) mesh implant in 2008 aged 43, due to stress incontinence following difficult childbirths.

I was not made aware of the risks or I would NEVER have had it!

It has been a nightmare ever since and took years of examinations, other procedures and scans to even acknowledge that the mesh was the cause of excruciating pain I suffered post implant.

I went from having a successful career that mattered to me as a single mum to being unable to work and latterly nearly unable to walk.

In 2014 I was given a partial removal in Scotland and told there was only a millimetre either side left in - this was untrue.

This attempt to remove the mesh left me even worse than before. Not only did I still suffer the excruciating debilitating pain from the mesh but I now have nerve damage caused by the botched removal attempt.

I was left in a wheelchair with chronic, constant pain that affected my whole life - no work, unable to sleep, lacking confidence and on benefits. I then developed severe fibromyalgia and anxiety. This is a disgraceful way to be left and mesh ruins so much more than the internal it decimated.

2 years ago my friends and family helped me get out to America to have full removal surgery from a world renowned surgeon. He removed 15 centimetres of mesh and it was a 4 and a half hour operation instead of 2 as the mesh was embedded in tissue, bone, muscle and nerves.

I am now psychologically much better and I’m able to move a lot better and straighten up. However, I still need to use a wheelchair or zimmer due to the constant chronic pain I still feel- a legacy of the crippling nerve damage.

I signed the first petition raised regarding mesh and I’m disappointed not all the recommendations have been adhered to.

This scandal ruined my health forever- please ensure it is banned and unable to do the same to anyone else.

It’s disgraceful that we have to fight to be heard when we simply trusted health professionals with our very lives. I’m a shadow of the person I used to be and if it wasn’t for my Christian Faith, loving friends and family, I don’t think I would still be here today. I believe that mesh is toxic and it robs you of so much – life can be unbearable at times with it. Please listen to our stories and ban this cruel substance once and for all. Statistics can be made to say anything, this is my life – not a stat. Please help us and stop others suffering needlessly.