Kath Sansom ‘I needed to expose this health scandal’

Iwas in my 40s, with two daughters aged 13 and 18, when I first spoke to my doctor about the embarrassing problem of stress incontinence. It affects many mothers, the majority of whom don’t need any surgery. With hindsight, I didn’t either. Yet I was swiftly offered an operation to have a vaginal mesh inserted. No other options were presented to me, nor any information about the risks.

I went into the theatre a sporty, fit 47-year-old. I came out in pain. At first I attributed it to the recovery process. But I’d been told I’d be back at my desk within a week, by which point I was still struggling. Being a selfemployed single parent – at that time I was a freelance journalist in Cambridgeshire – I had no choice but to work. The pain was so intense, I had to keep taking breaks to hang over the sink.

As each day went by, it grew worse, and I began to panic. I googled “TVT mesh gone wrong” (this was the type I’d had: “tension-free vaginal tape”), and discovered a few groups trying to raise awareness of the risks – but it seemed no one was listening.

This didn’t surprise me, as it’s an awkward subject. But I knew that a massive campaign was needed to draw attention to what was clearly a scandal.

Within three weeks, I had set up Sling The Mesh with around 20 other women. Today there are 8,400 of us (another 200 joined just yesterday). Seven out of 10 in the group have lost their sex lives. Eight out of 10 struggle to walk and sit. One in 20 has attempted suicide or had suicidal thoughts. Many have been ignored by their doctors.

I was luckily not one of them. My GP referred me to a mesh removal surgeon. I waited seven months to have it taken out, during which I survived on a high dose of nerve blockers and pain killers. The wait for removal is now two years, but I fear that with the backlog created by lockdown, that will grow.

The use of mesh for incontinence is currently suspended, and we’re hugely relieved to be vindicated by the review’s findings. In the group there’s a sense of “thank God they have listened”. But there’s also deep disappointment about what’s happened to us: women of all ages, backgrounds, classes and professions, forced to spend years in agony by a broken healthcare system that dismisses women’s concerns.