Father of a woman who died after having gastric sleeve procedure in Turkey warns against dangers

The father of a young mother of four who died following a weight loss operation in Turkey said she did not have to go for the procedure.

For 18 months after she returned from the gastric sleeve procedure Shannon Meenan-Browse struggled to keep food down.

The 32-year-old was severely malnourished when she died from organ failure last month in Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry.

Towards the end of her life, Shannon’s teeth had rotted and she got her main nutrition by removing noodles from Pot Noodles and drinking the water.

Her Dad, Shane Meenan, told UTV he watched helplessly as his daughter slowly starved.

“You couldn’t stop crying looking at her because you knew there was something seriously wrong with her. She just kept getting worse and worse.”

Shannon had been following an exercise and diet based programme for weight loss.

But she developed issues with her appearance when a condition affected her feet and she could not train.

Shannon’s Dad says her weight gain was not excessive and she had traveled to Turkey against their wishes.

“We didn’t want her to go because we knew there were pitfalls to it…..there was no need for her to go.”

Shane Meenan is warning people not to travel abroad for medical procedures without doing extensive research first.

“Look before you jump. It is not all sunshine and roses, everybody has this picture of coming back lovely and slim….but they could be unlucky, they could be like Shannon.”

Shannon leaves behind her husband and four children, a 14 year old son, six year old twins and a little boy who turned five during her wake.

Despite their grief the Meenan family are highlighting what happened to Shannon in the hope of preventing other families from suffering similar loss.

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