What it seemed to be a simple liposuction surgery lead eventually to the loss of a woman’s life, the mother of four and the beloved wife of the former Scotland footballer, Colin Hendry.
In April 2002 Denise Hendry decided to go for a minor liposuction operation at the private 17-bed Broughton Park Hospital, near Preston, Lancashire to regain her figure after her fourth child.
Instead of having a bikini body she ended up with nine punctures to her bowel and colon which caused multiple organ failure. She suffered severe blood poisoning and a cardiac arrest.
Liposuction, also known as lipoplasty or "fat modelling", is a cosmetic Surgery operation that removes fat from many different sites on the human body such as the abdomen, buttocks, thighs, the neck and backs of the arms.
Although she was awarded the compensation of 300,000, the largest payout for botched plastic surgery in history, she never fully recovered from the operation and her last seven years became a struggle to regain her health.
In May this year Denise Hendry underwent 16 hours of reconstructive surgery on her abdomen but tragically she was left desperately ill once again ending up in the intensive care for a couple of weeks.
Her short life ended after switching off the support life machine. Another unnecessary death, another tragedy, another grieve and despair.
The liposuction surgery is said to be a very simple procedure, where through a tiny incision, a narrow tube called cannula is inserted and used to vacuum the fat layer that lies deep beneath the skin.
As simple as it may sound there are possibilities of serious complications. Since the surgeon cannot see the cannula, there is a chance of damaging an internal organ, such as the intestines during abdominal liposuction which can be fatal.
And that what exactly happened in case of Denise Hendry.
Do we have to wait until someone we love dies to make a stand and start raising awareness about the potential dangers of plastic surgery?
What it has to take to stop this evil money making industry?
The cosmetic surgery world advertises heavily to convince you and millions of others that you need them to look beautiful and to be happy. Unfortunately, they are on a winning side because their stakes are growing bigger and the industry is flourishing.
Until we make a stand and educate potential victims that any cosmetic surgery, even a minor one, can be a life threatening procedure, the cosmetic surgeons will continue to put peoples’ life at risk.
Issued in the public interest by Barbara Tomasik yoga trainer based in London .
