Cambridgeshire man who lost 20 stone fundraises for surgery to remove excess skin

A man who lost more than 20 stone in weight is fundraising for skin removal surgery after he was told the NHS will not fund it.

Wayne Shepherd, 40, underwent gastric sleeve surgery in June 2022 to help him lose weight after being on the NHS waiting list for four years.

He underwent the successful surgery at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth after being referred by Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge.

After the surgery, Wayne was delighted when his weight plummeted from 35st 7lb to 14st 8lb. But he was left with a huge amount of excess skin, which has left him “more insecure” than when he “was bigger”.

Wayne, who is from Soham, said on his gofundme page: “I have always been overweight and was bullied very very badly as a kid for it which fuelled my eating problems. I am now 40 and have worked so hard to get to this point.

“It’s been one hell of a ride with so much hard work but now I have this massive problem of excess skin.

“This has destroyed me in so many ways. I am more insecure about how I look now than I ever was when I was bigger. I cannot look at myself in the mirror with no clothes on, I won’t let others look at me so doing this and putting myself out there for everyone to see is unreal and so hard, but that’s how much I am willing to do to try and get the help I need.”

Wayne is hoping to raise £5,000 to have the excess weight on his arms and upper chest removed.

He added: “I know I got myself in to this mess by putting the weight on in the first place but to be honest it’s not that simple at all. There were so many more factors than just overeating.”

Wayne has raised £635 via his gofundmepage, which was launched just eight days ago.

“I know it’s going to cost so so much but I need to try and do something because I can not live the rest of my life looking the way I do,” he said.

A spokesman for NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough said it would not be appropriate to comment on individual cases, but explained that body contouring procedures are not routinely funded by the NHS in Cambridgeshire.

Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said they were also unable to comment on individual cases.

Visit gofundme.com/f/funds-to-go-under-the-knife to donate.