Woman ordered to have her spleen removed and says her life was ruined after botched £2,400 Turkish weight-loss surgery left her vomiting blood and almost killed her

A mother of three is warning others about having surgery abroad after having her spleen removed and almost losing her life following a botched weight-loss procedure in Turkey.

Leanne O’Driscoll said she had reached a ‘breaking point’ with her weight after trying numerous diets. She was 16 and 10 pounds at her heaviest, and decided she wanted to make a drastic change.

The 43-year-old explored her options but discovered that while weight loss surgery was available in her native Ireland, there was a ten-year waiting list.

Eager to start her new life, she came across a cheaper alternative in Turkey, costing £2,400, and the operation was possible straight away.

But what had been a dream soon turned into a nightmare, with the procedure causing her body to ‘vomit blood’ and be ‘torn with pain’.

Pictured: Leanne O’Driscoll as she lies in hospital with sepsis

Leanne after her weight loss surgery. She said she will now have to take antibiotics for the rest of her life

“I feared the worst, but the nurses kept saying it was normal,” she said.

A week after the surgery, she said, she finally recovered enough to go home, but fell ill again during the flight.

When she got home, she said, “I was shivering from the cold and before I went to bed I collapsed and fell unconscious.”

Assuming she was dehydrated, she called her sister after regaining consciousness to get some water.

But when her sister climbed the stairs, she saw Leanne lying on the floor.

‘My sister screamed for me to call an ambulance. I fell unconscious again.’

At the hospital, scans revealed that her spleen had been damaged during the procedure and her body had gone into skeptical shock.

Due to internal bleeding, the 43-year-old had to receive 11 pints of blood during an emergency transfusion.

Unfortunately, doctors were unable to save her spleen and it had to be removed.

Pictured: Leanne O’Driscoll recovering from her spleen removal surgery

Leanne shares her harrowing ordeal to warn others about the surgery – especially as it is her ‘biggest regret’ in life

After a week, Leanne was able to return home – and as she recovered, the weight came off ‘quickly’.

Leanne said: ‘I looked like a skeleton and my colleagues struggled to recognize me. One told me they had no idea who I was.

‘I felt like a shell of myself and my hunger was everywhere.

“Emotionally I wanted to eat, but my body kept telling me I couldn’t.”

Now she is sharing her harrowing ordeal to warn others about the surgery – mainly because it is her ‘biggest regret’ of her life.

She added: ‘I wish I’d never had the operation.

‘I will have to take antibiotics for the rest of my life, something I have almost lost because I have no immunity anymore. Even a minor infection could kill me.

‘I’m lucky to be alive. Don’t make the same mistake I did.’

In Turkey, gastric bypass surgery can cost as little as £3,000 – much less than the £8,000 it costs privately in Britain, with similar prices in Ireland.

While many are attracted to the low prices and seemingly quick turnaround times of procedures in Turkey, doctors have warned of cost-cutting practices in many clinics and of patients “coming through Turkish hospitals on an assembly line.”

Leanne’s case comes after the tragic death of a 20-year-old British woman following a botched operation in Turkey.

Morgan Ribeiro flew to the country to undergo stomach surgery after years of being bullied about her weight.

She died of complications in a Serbian hospital after her flight back to Britain had to make an emergency landing in Belgrade when she became seriously unwell.

Tragically, recent statistics suggest that at least 25 Britons have died since cosmetic surgery abroad since 2019.