Man, 26, with paralysed stomach whose weight plummeted to eight stone told by NHS to fund his own life-saving £17,000 surgery Matthew Pascoe’s weight dropped while he was waiting for an operation – which he has now found out he must pay for privately

Matthew Pascoe has endured “two years of hell”. His stomach became paralysed – a complication from having type 1 diabetes – causing him to vomit on a daily basis.

Unable to digest food, and in constant pain, he has rapidly lost weight, plummeting from 11 stone to just eight stone in the last six months.

He’s almost slipped into a diabetic coma because not being able to eat sends his blood sugar levels dangerously low.

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The 26-year-old urgently needs an operation to implant a device in his abdomen that sends electrical pulses to stimulate his stomach into functioning again.

But after months believing he was on the waiting list, he’s now been told the NHS won’t fund any gastric stimulators in England. He has no option but to find £17,000 to pay for the life-saving surgery privately.

His fiancée Amy Rushworth cried as she told i: “Matthew’s just been left to die, to starve to death. The NHS have said they can do nothing for him because of funding.”

Dismissed as a ‘stomach bug’

Matthew, from Colchester, Essex, began vomiting in February 2017 and soon began suffering severe stomach ache.

He spent 14 months going to his GP and in and out of hospital – at times on a weekly basis – but no-one was able to say what was wrong with him.

His digestive problems were thought to be “a stomach bug” and the pain was put down to his diabetes. But then his symptoms became so severe Matthew was forced to give up his job as a store manager.

“I tried to go back to work but the pain was too much,” he said. “Then I collapsed and they thought I had appendicitis and I had my appendix out.

“But after a week or so I was back to square one in agony.”

After seeing a gastric consultant in April last year, he was finally diagnosed with gastroparesis – a long-term (chronic) condition where the stomach can’t empty itself in the normal way.

Expecting operation that never happened

My illness has really affected my mental health. It’s broken me Matthew Pascoe

Medications have failed to improve Matthew’s condition and he deteriorated so much that hospital staff had to fit him with a feeding tube. However, this hasn’t worked and he is still suffering malnutrition and dehydration.

Matthew claims his consultant at Colchester General Hospital told him his only option was a gastric stimulator, and that he would make an application for him to have one fitted.

“My illness has really affected my mental health,” he said. “It’s broken me. I’m in bed five days out of seven.

“I can’t work and I can’t do stuff like play football with my stepson Jayden.

“But I kept going thinking there was light at the end of the tunnel with the operation.”

No help

But then in October last year, Matthew was rushed into hospital after he collapsed and fell unconscious at home.

“I was lucky that an ambulance was nearby and got to me quickly because Amy and my mother were giving me sugared gel in my mouth but I wasn’t coming round.

“It took 20 minutes at the hospital for me to come round. My blood sugar levels were so low they couldn’t be registered on the machine.

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It was during his five-day stay in hospital that he found out he wasn’t on a waiting list for an operation.

They did some research and found there are only two specialist surgeons able to carry out the procedure in the UK.

It’s clear the NHS aren’t doing anything to help him. He’s at risk of slipping into a coma and dying if he can’t eat Amy Rushworth

Amy, 25, who had to give up her job to care for Matthew full time, said: “It makes me so angry that he was left like this for six months suffering in pain while the weight dropped off him.

“He was told the NHS isn’t funding the gastric stimulator for any patient in England and that he will have to pay for it himself.

“His mother has had to find £250 to go see a private consultant because it’s clear the NHS aren’t doing anything to help him.

“He’s at risk of slipping into a coma and dying if he can’t eat. With his blood sugar levels all over the place he can’t tell how much insulin he should be injecting.”

Last week, Matthew’s private consultant informed him he needed to raise £17,000 to fund the operation. Amy has now set up a GoFundMe appeal in a desperate bid to pay for it.

Amy said the surgery would be life-changing for Matthew and her son Jayden, seven.

She said: “He has lost everything. We just need to get Matt back to being himself and being able to have the quality of life most 26-year-olds have.”

A spokesperson for NHS England said the procedure is not routinely commissioned. He said: “A clinician can submit an Individual Funding Request (IFR) if they believe the patient meets the criteria of individual exceptionality described in the NHS England IFR guidance.”

When i asked East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Colchester Hospital, if an investigation was being carried out into Matthew’s consultant’s conduct a spokesperson said she was unable to confirm this.

It responded: “If the patient would like us to look into any concerns about his care, then we encourage him to contact us so our teams can help.”

To donate to the fund, visit here.