A man with a massive hernia which makes him look pregnant faces a near two-year wait for surgery to remove it.
Paul Milham’s 17.5cm mass – nearly 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 allegedly placed him on a 86-week waiting list for an operation to rid him of the mass.
To get the op sooner, Mr Milham claims he would need to pay as much as £50,000 privately.
He said: ‘I feel very sad and angry about this.
‘I’m working more hours than ever before to try and raise the money. I know people are trying their best but this is my life.
‘I need to get on the operating table as soon as possible to save my life.’
Hernias — when an internal part of the body pushes through a weakness in muscle or tissue — aren’t usually dangerous.
In extreme cases, they can lead to life-threatening complications.
Mr Milham, a hypnotherapist, said: ‘If this can’t be repaired, I don’t believe my body can live into old age in the state that it’s in.
‘It doesn’t mean that I’m going to die immediately 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 has stretched so I’m in pain a lot. I have reduced activity. I don’t like to be around people anymore because I look like a freak.
‘It’s devastating to be worried about your life.’
Mr Milham first spotted the hernia last June, which started off small but grew ‘larger and larger’ over time.
It cropped up two months after having emergency bowel surgery to treat a separate condition.
Following the op, he was discharged after having a colostomy bag fitted but then re-admitted to hospital the following day due to an infection.
Mr Milham says NHS doctors don’t believe the mass is ‘life-threatening’ in its current form.
But one private surgeon, he claims, said it was at the ‘upper limits’ of what is fixable currently.
As the hernia is still growing Mr Milham fears if left much longer then surgery won’t be able to ever fully correct it.
He said: ‘I’ve been begging them and begging them for it to be sooner.
‘I’ve written to the surgeon, the complaints department, the CEO department and got nowhere.
‘I went for a private consultation and was told that the hernia is now so big, it is on the upper limits of what is mendable, which, to me, suggests that if I don’t get this mended now then I’m stuck with this bowling ball for life.
‘I was left with this 17.5cm bulge with nothing to protect my insides and there’s just a centimetre of skin where my bowels and intestines are.
‘The surgeon said that my situation, although serious, isn’t life-threatening. People like me are just waiting for a slot to come up when there’s space.
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said that Mr Milham was assessed to be ‘not clinically urgent’ in November.
He was then upgraded to ‘clinically urgent’ after another appointment in December, which could see his waiting time reduced.
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 elective care waiting times and will always prioritise cases with the highest clinical need — including escalating those where a patient’s condition has altered following initial assessment.
‘While we cannot comment on individual patient details, we are urgently investigating the complaint Mr Milham has made about the delay in his care.’
Hernias can develop between your chest and your hips.
In many cases surgery is required.
There are many different types of hernias, but some can occur when tissue pokes through a surgical wound in the tummy.
Some types of hernia can also become strangulated or cause a bowel obstruction, the NHS says.
Sarah Carter is a health and wellness expert residing in the UK. With a background in healthcare, she offers evidence-based advice on fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being, promoting healthier living for readers.
