33-stone Steve’s 999 wake-up call
TOO-fat-to-work Steve Beer has pledged to diet and get fit after being rushed to hospital following a heart attack.
Steve, 46, who weighs 33 stone, spent six days in hospital and says doctors told him he came close to dying.
“I’ve been given a second chance of life and it’s the wake-up call I need,” he said.
“I’ve been told I have to change eating habits and lifestyle and I’m determined to do it. I want to keep living.”
Steve was slated for being a benefits scrounger after he was featured in Channel 5’s Too Fat To Work, in 2015.
Paramedics blue- lighted him to Derriford hospital in Plymouth this month after he suffered excruciating chest pains at his nearby home.
“I lay in the ambulance thinking I was dying, it was absolutely terrifying,” said father-of-three Steve, who is 5ft 5ins.
Wife Michelle, 45, who went with him in the ambulance, said: “The worst bit was waiting outside his ward while doctors did tests. I feared I’d lose him.”
Steve is on 15 tablets a day, including beta-blockers, as he recovers at home.
He has previously had three strokes and said medics told him the heart attack was caused by morbid obesity.
But he has been denied gastric surgery on the NHS.
“I’ve been told I need to go on a weight loss programme for a few years before I can have the surgery,” he said.
“But that’s too long. What if I suffer another heart attack by then? It’s ridiculous. Having surgery now would save the NHS money in the long run.”
Two years ago, he shed more than eight stones at a “boot camp”. But back home he returned to old habits, including guzzling litres of Pepsi a day.
“I’d love somebody to come forward to help me again,” said Steve.
“If there’s a boot camp I can do, sign me up. I want to keep living and I know what I need to do.