Nadine Hatchett was 18 years old and weighed 178 kilos when doctors told her that without surgery, she would not make it to 30.
She agreed to the gastric bypass, trusting that it would restore her health. Weeks later, she lost her sight. Her legs lost all sensation. She was rushed to a hospital in London, where a week of tests revealed Wernicke’s encephalopathy, a severe vitamin B1 deficiency that is almost never seen in bariatric patients, only in chronic alcoholics. The paralysis rose up to her chest. Her organs began to fail. The doctors asked her mother to call the family in case she did not survive.
Nadine spent seven months in the hospital. She survived, but with permanent nerve damage and mild brain damage. She returned to her parents’ home, where they adapted the living room with a hospital bed because, at 19, she could no longer eat, bathe, or dress herself.
Eleven years later, in Shepperton, Surrey, Nadine is learning to walk again. She has had a partner for a year and dreams of getting married and becoming a mother. She lost her independence that December in 2015, but she did not lose the desire to regain it.
