Chamber and committees

Petitioner submission of 28 July 2021

PE1865_III - Suspend all surgical mesh and fixation devices

I am the lead campaigner and petitioner for all mesh and fixations.  I have suffered for 5 years.  I supported the previous petition Hear Our Voice.  I was made promises from the government that were never fulfilled.

In 2015 after a hernia repair I woke up in severe pain. The pain never left. I never healed. I was fighting to see the surgeon as knew something wasn't right. It was 18 months before I was finally seen. To be dismissed told no issue with the surgery. I saw a second surgeon who agreed mesh needed to be removed.  Finally, I knew it wasn't in my head.  But I didn't realise the fight I'd have in my hands.  The third surgeon I've seen for removal made me aware of the protacks.  They shouldn't be in the human body and carry a cancer warning.  So he wants them removed also.  I never knew I had these until that appointment.  These protacks have caused me a lot of issues.  As has the mesh. Combined they have left me without a life I once knew.

5 years I have suffered from severe mesh complications.  Also complications of the titanium protacks I have holding my mesh in place.  For 5 years I have been dismissed and not believed.  In 2018 I was told this was all in my head by a GP.  I planned on taking my life as I couldn't do it anymore.  Until I saw a media show with people suffering the same as me.  Then I was aware that it was in fact mesh that was used in my surgery.

My mobility is poor.  When I can do things with ease I know I will pay for it for days later.  I feel no GP fully understands me.  I feel like a burden to my family.  I am only 37 and feel like I'm not living but I'm dying.  The life I once had is only a dream.  I've lost my job, my interests and me.  Most of all I've lost me.  I don't like the new me cause it's not who I am.  But how do you cope and try and be who you once were? When you have a pain so deep that nothing touches it unless you medicate yourself until your non-existent.  What way is that to live?  I try to put a brave face on for my family but I can't hide my pain.  What life is it for my family?  To see me debilitated by a medical device that was meant to heal me?  I just want to be me again.  The me I was 5 years ago.   The newly married woman with a career in accountancy.  The world at her feet.  Nothing stopping her.  The truth is I will never be her again.  Nothing can fix me.  Even mesh/protack removal can't ever fully fix me to the me I was before.  But the chance to have some of that back is all I can hope for.  It’s all I have left to hold onto.

This petition and changing the future of these devices is all I have left to fight for.  It's all that keeps me going.  I have been severely damaged and affected by this operation.  It will never leave me as long as I live.  It's ingrained in me.  All I ask is for the government to work with us and make the changes.  Not just say they will but actually do it.  I ask they also hear our voices and unite us.  Help us before you have a country of people like myself.  This is happening world-wide and all eyes are on Scotland.  I have faith and hope.  It's all I have left.  I ask please don't take that away from me.  From us all.