Telford 24 Seven

“Help, I’m eating myself to death!”

Sabrina Holt gained a staggering seven stones in nine months. She talks to ANDY RICHARDSON about her health worries and hopes of having a life-saving operation

Sabrina Holt

Sabrina Holt ate at normal mealtimes while gaining an extraordinary seven stones in nine months. She’d start the day with breakfast, enjoy a lunchtime meal then settle down to dinner. The only problem was, she’d also eat a second breakfast, second lunch and second dinner. In the short gaps between meals, she’d fill up with chocolate, crisps and sweets.
“I gained seven stone when I was pregnant,” says Sabrina, who is married and has a five-year-old son, Ethan.
“I had breakfast, lunch and dinner. But I also had second breakfast, second lunch and second dinner. Then I ate chocolate and crisps between meals. I ate proper decent foods, lots of it. I had sweets and chocolate and crisps inbetween. I became unhappy because I was putting on weight, so I had some more food to cheer myself up. It was a vicious circle.”
Sabrina is eating herself to death. Consider the facts. At the age of 28, her morbid obesity has given her a number of serious health problems. She’s got Type I Diabetes and constant back pain. She suffered a stroke that caused temporary blindness and has become increasingly immobile. She has also suffered four miscarriages and is infertile.
“I’m worried that I’m eating myself to death,” says Sabrina, who is unemployed and lives at Sutton Hill, Telford. “I’ve been advised by a consultant that I need a life-saving operation, a gastric band, because my obesity has become a huge problem.”
Sabrina’s troubles began in 2001, shortly after her marriage. She was involved in a serious car crash and suffered severe whiplash, which led to sustained immobility and a period of heavy medication with pain killers. She says: “I was doped up for six months. I couldn’t do anything or even move. I couldn’t exercise or walk around.
“When I got married, I was nine-and-a-half stone. Now I’m 19-and-a-half.
“After the car crash, I started putting on weight because I was immobile. I became depressed because I was putting on weight and couldn’t do anything about it. So I ate more and more. I was eating junk food all the time.”
Sabrina ballooned in 2003 when she became pregnant, putting on a staggering seven stones. “I had my boy in the May and I kept the weight. I had a stroke on December 23,” she says. “I was completely blind for three months. It was about six to eight months before my eyesight fully recovered. I was pretty immobile.”

Sabrina Holt

In recent months, Sabrina has made repeated visits to her GP. She’s been told her life expectancy is dramatically reduced and she is also infertile. She adds: “I’m infertile because I’ve been this size for so long. I’ve had four miscarriages. I can’t stay pregnant because of my weight. My GP has been brilliant. She put me on weight control pills and I’ve been to a number of diet groups. The tablets helped me lose three stone but then I put it all back on again and more. The last option I’ve got is the gastric band operation. If I don’t have an operation I’m going to die.”
Sabrina says she is already struggling to walk normally. She has developed asthma and has constant aches and pains. She adds: “In ten years time I’ll be in a wheelchair. I can’t sit in a normal chair and I can’t sit at a bench at a table. It has to be a chair that moves.
“I’ve got wonderful friends and they are always inviting me out to the pub, to dinner or to barbecues. I say ‘yeah alright’ then I’ll drop out at the last minute. I won’t go. It’s because of the way I look. No one wants to see me like this, I don’t want to see me like this, why should anyone else want to see me like this?”
Sabrina says the worst aspect of her obesity is being unable to cuddle her son, Ethan, who is known as EJ. She adds: “I get upset when my little boy tells me he wants to sit on my lap and have a cuddle. I have no lap, so he can’t sit on my lap. I can’t even hold a baby comfortably. I can’t sit like a woman, because I can’t cross my legs, so I don’t feel like a woman. It’s not about what I look like any more, it’s a matter of life and death. It’s a matter of living.”

Telford’s obese Sabrina Holt before she piled on the pounds

Help may be at hand for Sabrina. Her MP, David Wright, has offered advice and support while her local Primary Care Trust has said it will consider funding an operation. PCT spokesman Mark Crisp says: “While it would not be appropriate for the PCT to comment on individual cases I am able to confirm that the PCT does fund gastric band treatment at the Heart of England Foundation Trust and Walsall Hospital.”
Mr Crisp added that the PCT would discuss Sabrina’s case with her, something the obese Telford mother hopes could eventually help save her life.

This is the incredible daily diet that Sabrina enjoyed during her worst years of over-eating:
10am: Get up and start the day with two rounds of toast with butter.
10.30am:Two more slices of toast with butter. One chocolate bar and a packet of crisps.
12noon: Two slices of cheese and tomatoes on toast, followed by a bowl of noodles, a few biscuits and a family size packet of crisps.
1pm: Another bowl of noodles. Two packets of crisps and an ice cream.
3pm: Four sandwiches and a packet of crisps.
4pm: Selection of food from the fridge, including Pepperami, packet of sweets and more biscuits and crisps. Another chocolate bar.
5.30pm: Dinner, either a roast dinner or a spaghetti bolognaise. Large portion.
7/10pm: Buffet-style rolling supper. Pepperami, family size packet of crisps, popcorn, ice cream and more biscuits with cups of tea.
10pm: Go to bed early so that I can stop eating.