Teenager spends thousands to stay slim

Throughout his childhood he saw his mum's weight escalate to more than 40 stone. Now 17 year old Emrah Mevsimler from Chelmsford has spent thousands of pounds to ensure he doesn't end up in a similar situation.

Sharon died in July 2010. Comfort eating over the years had led her to pile on the pounds. A gastric bypass was her final hope but her family says her stomach was cut too small and for the last year of her life she was starving herself to death, going into comas and being fed through a tube.

Her son Emrah begged his mum for a gastric band at the age of just 13 after being bullied at school. At the age of 12 he was 14 stone. His uncles and grandma had already had the same procedure.

"I don't regret it it's just I think because I had it so young I went through all the pain as I was growing up. I'm in constant pain nearly every day. My band's so tight in the morning that I don't eat breakfast and lunch and I normally just eat dinner so that's when I put the weight on as well."

Emrah returns to his doctor every couple of months to have the band tightened at a cost of a hundred pounds but he says he often goes back several weeks later to have it loosened.

The initial operation which his mum paid for cost, four thousand pounds. The procedures since then have added a futher three thousand pounds to the bill which Emrah has paid for himself.

"I don't think anyone can understand what my mum went through. She lost the feeling of her hands, her legs, everything, she suffered a lot. I just want to stay slim. It's hard because people think just because you have a gastric band it's over, and you don't have to work hard anymore. It helps but you've got to do the work yourself."

Emrah is now looking into having liposuction. He's currently 5ft 8 and 14 and a half stone and wants to lose more weight.