A man with a huge hernia that makes him look pregnant must wait almost two years for surgery to remove the hernia.
Paul Milham’s 17.5cm mass – almost the size of a bowling ball – has left him in agony.
The 45-year-old, who lives in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, also says the hernia makes him ‘look like a freak’.
Despite being desperate for an end to his pain, NHS doctors have reportedly put him on an 86-week waiting list for surgery to rid him of the mass.
To get the operation sooner, Mr Milham claims he would have to pay as much as £50,000 privately.
Paul Milham, 45, first noticed the hernia in June last year, two months after undergoing emergency surgery on his colon to treat diverticular disease
The therapist said he has been placed on an 86-week waiting list to remove the hernia, despite desperate pleas for medical professionals to perform the operation sooner.
He said: ‘I feel very sad and angry about this.
‘I’m working more hours than ever before to raise the money. I know people are doing their best, but this is my life.
‘I have to go to the operating table as soon as possible to save my life.’
Hernias — when a weakness in muscle or tissue penetrates an internal part of the body — are usually not dangerous.
In extreme cases they can lead to life-threatening complications.
Mr Milham, a hypnotherapist, said: ‘If this cannot be fixed I don’t believe my body can grow old in the state it is in.
‘It doesn’t mean I’m going to die straight away, but it does feel like it’s life-saving now.
‘I just want to get back to my life. I look seven months pregnant with this bulge.”
‘The skin is stretched, so I’m in a lot of pain. I have reduced activity. I don’t like being around people anymore because I look like a freak.
“It’s terrible to worry about your life.”
Mr Milham first discovered the hernia last June, which started small but became ‘bigger and bigger’ over time.
It surfaced two months after emergency intestinal surgery to treat another condition.
After surgery, he was discharged after a colostomy bag was placed, but was readmitted to hospital the next day due to an infection.
Mr Milham says NHS doctors do not believe the mass in its current form is ‘life-threatening’.
But a private surgeon, he claims, said this was the “upper limit” of what can currently be resolved.
Because the hernia is still growing, Mr Milham fears that surgery will never be able to fully correct the hernia if it persists for much longer..
He said: ‘I begged and begged them for it to happen sooner.
‘I wrote to the surgeon, the complaints department, the CEO department, but got nowhere.
‘I went for a private consultation and was told that the hernia is now so large that it is at the upper limit of what is repairable, which to me indicates that if I don’t get this repaired now, I will be stuck. with this bowling ball for life.
‘I was left with a 17.5cm bulge with no way to protect my intestines and only an inch of skin left where my intestines and intestines are.
‘The surgeon said that my situation, although serious, is not life-threatening. People like me just wait for a spot to open up if there is room.
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said Mr Milham was assessed as ‘not clinically urgent’ in November.
He was then upgraded to ‘clinically urgent’ after another appointment in December, which could shorten his waiting time.
A hernia is a common problem that occurs when an internal part of the body pushes through a weakness in the muscle or surrounding tissue wall, the NHS says.
To get the operation done sooner, Mr Milham claims he would have to pay as much as £50,000 to get it private
Hospital bosses confirmed they were investigating his complaint ‘urgently’.
A spokesperson for Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said: ‘In line with the rest of the NHS, we are working hard to reduce waiting times for elective care and will always prioritize cases with the highest clinical need – including escalating of cases where a patient’s condition has deteriorated. changed after the initial assessment.
‘While we cannot comment on the details of individual patients, we are urgently investigating the complaint made by Mr Milham regarding the delay in his care.’
A hernia can develop between your chest and your hips.
In many cases, surgery is necessary.
There are many different types of hernias, but some can occur when tissue protrudes into the abdomen through a surgical wound.
Some types of hernia can also become strangulated or cause a bowel obstruction, the NHS says.