Former 34st teen: “Crash dieting nearly killed me – I need a new liver”
Malissa Jones lost a staggering 26st. But in a bid to stay thin she stopped eating for 17 days. Now, she is fighting for her life...
Aged just 17, Malissa Jones made headlines as the youngest person in the UK to have a stomach bypass after she tipped the scales at 34st.
The surgery helped Malissa lose an incredible 26st. But after putting on 5st while pregnant with her youngest son, Cobey, this year, she took drastic action to lose her baby weight.
The mum-of-two ate nothing for 17 days in a row, which led to her organs shutting down. She was put in a coma and, while doctors managed to save her life, Malissa now has liver failure – and without a transplant, she will die.
Malissa – who lives in Selby, Yorkshire, with her partner
Paul and their children, Louis, two, and Cobey, nine months – says, “I was so determined to lose the weight that I just stopped eating. I didn’t think about the consequences.
“When I woke up from the coma and doctors told me the damage I’d caused, I felt so guilty.
“Without a transplant, I won’t live to see my boys grow up. I think about dying every single day.”
As a child, Malissa had always been big. Binge-eating junk food led to her weight spiralling to 32st, and she was a size 28 by the age of 17. Concerned doctors referred her for gastric band surgery, which she had in 2008.
PHYSICAL PAIN
But by 2011, Malissa had shed over 26st and, at 5ft 8, was dangerously underweight. She said, “I was 9st, but without the excess skin, doctors said my true weight was nearer to 7st. My body wasn’t able to absorb food properly because of the bypass. And I found eating physically painful due to an infection in my mouth.
“I’d gone from eating 15,000 calories a day, to just a couple of carrots and a roast potato. People told me to eat, but I just didn’t want to.”
More anguish was to follow for Malissa when she realised that her bypass had affected her fertility. Since 2011, Malissa has endured several miscarriages, and gave birth to a son who lived for just one hour after being born at 27 weeks.
She was also suffering with liver problems – including cirrhosis of the liver and a build-up of fat in the liver cells.
Malissa says, “I’d struggled with liver problems since I was a teenager because of my awful diet. But then after my gastric bypass, I didn’t realise that I had to stop drinking completely.
“I’d only have a few drinks a week, but I hadn’t realised that one pint was the equivalent of six for me. It did irreversible damage.”
But miraculously, while in hospital being treated for a bleed on her liver, Malissa finally had some good news. Doctors told her she was pregnant. She says, “Paul and I were thrilled. I started eating better, because I wanted to be healthy for the baby. The pregnancy went well and Louis was born in July 2017. He was our little miracle.”
After Louis was born, Malissa stabilised at 11st, and loved being a new mum. She says, “I loved every minute with Louis, including all the late nights and nappies.”
STARVATION
Then, in August 2018, Malissa fell pregnant again – but this time, she developed gestational diabetes. Malissa explains, “To
control my blood sugar levels, I would snack on jelly babies and sugary cola.
“I started piling on the weight, but I just put it down to being pregnant. By the time Cobey was born, I weighed 16st.”
It was when Cobey was just weeks old, that Malissa decided to take drastic action. She said, “I didn’t want to be the fat girl again. I started by cutting out the sweets and cola, and then I stopped eating breakfast.
“But when I still couldn’t shift the weight, I stopped eating all together. I managed to keep it a secret from Paul and my family by covering up in baggy clothes. In the evening, if he asked why I wasn’t eating dinner, I’d say
I’d eaten loads throughout the day. He worked all day as a driver, so he was none the wiser.”
Malissa’s crash-dieting got so bad that, in August 2019, she ate nothing for 17 days in a row. She says, “The most
I’d have was a couple of sips of sugar free squash, diluted with water.
“The boys’ nan looked after them during the day, so I spent all day on the sofa sleeping – I didn’t have the energy to do anything else.
“My hair started to fall out and I was always freezing cold. My stomach would cramp because I was so hungry and
I’d even black out, but I hated the thought of being fat again.”
But that same month, Malissa noticed her leg started to
I HAVE TO FACE THE FACT THIS COULD BE MY LAST CHRISTMAS WITH MY BOYS
swell and went to the GP, who referred her to hospital.
She says, “I was so delirious from starving myself, I can’t even remember getting to hospital. The next thing I knew, six weeks had passed and I was waking up from a coma.”
Paul explained to Malissa that when she’d arrived at hospital, doctors discovered that her organs had started to shut down, and she was placed in a medically-induced coma.
She’d also developed acute respiratory distress syndrome, a life-threatening condition where the lungs can’t provide the body’s vital organs with enough oxygen.
BEYOND REPAIR
Malissa says, “It sounds stupid, but when Paul told me what had happened I thought I’d be fine if I just started eating again.”
“Doctors said that my liver, which was already damaged, was now beyond repair, and I would need a liver transplant.
“But because of the damage I’d done to my lungs, I was too unwell to be put on the transplant list.”
Now, all Malissa can do is wait. She says, “I have to hope that my lungs will improve and I will one day get a liver transplant. But I know I might not be that lucky. I’m also trying to eat normally, but eating gives me stomach cramps.
“When I look back, I feel so stupid. Instead of spending those precious first weeks with Cobey, I starved myself. I missed out on his first smile and the first time he rolled over.
“Now, I have to face the fact that this could be my last Christmas with the boys. I’m going to make it special.
I’ve bought them lots of gifts and we’ll have a meal with their grandparents.
“I want to be there to see them go to school and get married. It makes me cry just thinking about leaving my children.
“Crash-dieting means I’m on the brink of death. I wish I’d just lost weight the healthy way.”
By Kristina Beanland
CLOSERONLINE.CO.UK