Banburyshire woman gives harrowing account of how 'barbaric' surgical mesh has affected her life

A Banburyshire woman who struggles daily with the effects of surgical mesh being used to repair a hernia says she never wants anyone to go through the same thing.
Shaena Charles - a Pilates instructor who suffers intermittent agony because of a mesh repair to a herniaShaena Charles - a Pilates instructor who suffers intermittent agony because of a mesh repair to a hernia
Shaena Charles - a Pilates instructor who suffers intermittent agony because of a mesh repair to a hernia

Pilates teacher Shaena Charles felt compelled to tell the story of how she went from being a continually active woman to someone who sometimes has to use a walker because of excruciating pain in her leg.

Horror stories about surgical mesh insertions were highlighted in last week's publication of a review led by Baroness Julia Cumberledge who has criticised the way women suffering pain had been ignored or dismissed. She has called for an investigation to discover the full extent of the problem.

Mrs Charles, who runs The Core Zone in Middleton Cheney, said: "They are still putting this in people's bodies - it's barbaric. It's maiming people."

Shaena Charles with the walker she keeps close to her for moments when she cannot stand properlyShaena Charles with the walker she keeps close to her for moments when she cannot stand properly
Shaena Charles with the walker she keeps close to her for moments when she cannot stand properly

The fitness instructor was given an operation on the NHS, performed by the Foscote Private Hospital, Banbury in 2012. While many of the victims of the mesh are women who have had bladder or bowel prolapse or suffer incontinence, hers was a procedure to alleviate a femoral hernia.

"I've got clients who've had groin and testicular hernias and some of them have been suffering this mesh migration, where the mesh disintegrates and moves to other parts of the body. My hernia was in my groin.

"I was told the op would take 40 minutes and that I should take it easy for two weeks but I was off for 16 weeks and I have only been able to do half the usual amount of work since then. I'm fine doing the Pilates but not weight-bearing or sitting. I'm in constant pain - it's like I've got a bolt in my groin.

"After two years of going to and from my doctor and the original consultant I saw a second consultant who diagnosed it immediately and said I was at great risk of having my femoral artery punctured by the plastic.

"In corrective surgery in 2017 I had to have my deep groin lymph nodes removed and my nerves cut because they had wrapped around them. There are reports that some of the meshes used were not tested properly."

Mrs Charles described cases of men being cut by vaginal mesh migrating in their wives. One woman has suffered fragments of mesh from a hiatus hernia reaching her lungs. She said victims have been given antidepressants.

"They have been told it's all in their head, that they're not giving it enough time to heal. My husband has been my rock and if it hadn't been for him and the backup of my therapeutic colleagues I would have needed counselling for depression.

"My life has been left with complications and have been told I have more chance of oedema. There are days I can't walk or I get spasms and collapse. It's like I've got a Jekyll and Hyde body - I can do Pilates but then be felled by the pain of this," she said.

"It's affecting men as well as women but men talk less about it. It needs to be talked about. The effects can take ten years to come out in the body."

Mrs Charles says she is denied legal action as her operation was more than three years ago.

"I don't think it was the Foscote's fault - the nursing was fine. I wasn't happy with the surgeon though. A year later I still had the lump. He said we could feel the pattern of the mesh because I was so slim.

"One surgeon said trying to remove the mesh pieces is like taking cat hair out of chewing gum. I don't want to hear of anyone else have this put in them."

"They used to sew people up to repair a hernia but it takes longer and recovery is longer. I think they should go back to doing this. The mesh clearly hasn't worked as so many thousands of people with these problems can't be wrong. Warnings have been made since the 90s but still they've continued to use it."

The Banbury Guardian has approached the Foscote - which has changed ownership since 2012 - to ask for a comment.

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