A super slimmer who lost more than half his body weight is fundraising to have THREE STONE of excess skin removed after the NHS refused to operate on him.<br /><br />Ashley Spendiff, 42, weighed 36st at his heaviest after gorging on five takeaways a week and needed two sets of scales to even weigh himself. <br /><br />The care home manager was so big he could only fit into XXXXXXXL t-shirts and wore whopping 58ins wide trousers.<br /><br />Ashley turned to comfort eating following the death of a friend and ballooned in size.<br /><br />He decided to change his life when he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in November 2021. <br /><br />Ashley began walking but found it hard due to his size and would constantly be out of breath so took up wild swimming.<br /><br />He would swim up to two hours most days and in just 16 months Ashley lost a staggering 20 stone.<br /><br />His amazing weight loss has left him with between two and three stone in excess skin which Ashley can’t tone up through exercise.<br /><br />Ashley was gutted when his GP told him the NHS would not fund the operation to remove the skin because it is a cosmetic procedure.<br /><br />He has now launched a crowdfunding appeal to raise £35,000 to have the surgery done privately.<br /><br />Ashley, from East Bridgford, Notts., said: “I decided I needed to change my life.<br /><br />"Two sets of scales were needed to measure the weight.<br /><br />"Diabetes was the kick I needed and was probably a blessing in disguise.<br /><br />"All my life, my weight has fluctuated and in more recent years it has got completely out of control.<br /><br />"As you put more weight on, you get more depressed. I would turn to food and then I would feel guilty for eating that food and then eat more food.<br /><br />"I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror.<br /><br />"Throughout this weight loss journey, I always knew that my skin would be an issue in the end.<br /><br />"However, I was not prepared for the information my GP would give me.<br /><br />"My GP informed me that because skin removal surgery was classed as a cosmetic procedure, it was not available to me on the NHS. My only option was to go down the private route."<br /><br />Dr Ian Campbell, an obesity expert, said: "Losing weight is never easy, and when someone needs to lose a lot of weight to restore their health, it requires huge determination and mental strength.<br /><br />"Unfortunately significant weight loss can leave unsightly and uncomfortable skin folds in the abdomen, hips, chest, arms and legs.<br /><br />"The only thing that can be done is surgical correction, to remove the excess skin folds."<br /><br />Dr Campbell said the NHS regularly refused to carry out the surgery on weight-loss patients.<br /><br />He added: "The result can often be very demoralising for the patient, whose hard work in losing weight seems to go unrecognised.”<br /><br />An NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire spokesperson said: "Although we sympathise with patients who have excess skin after weight loss, the removal of excess skin following weight loss is not routinely offered by the NHS.<br /><br />Ashley has so far raised £4,431 on his JustGiving page.
