I have the biggest hernia doctors have ever seen – but they say surgery to remove it will kill me
The 56-year-old mum-of-one from Hinckley, Leics, first developed the condition in 2008 after severe stomach pain left her unable to push a shopping trolley.
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"It was much smaller then," Samantha said.
"And the doctor was able to just push it back in with his fingers.'
A hernia is when an internal part of the body pushes through the muscle or surrounding tissues.
They usually occur between the chest and hips and can cause no or few symptoms in many cases.
Sometimes a lump can appear on the outside of the body, like in Samantha's case.
Not all hernias require surgery to fix. But sudden severe pain, being sick and difficulty pooing can all be signs that blood supply to a section of organ has been cut off, which can be deadly.
Over the years Samantha's lump grew.
By 2011, she was booked for surgery but doctors cancelled, saying she was overweight and her blood pressure was too high.
She said: 'I was put on medication to bring my blood pressure down but after that I started suffering very badly mentally and I didn't have the energy to chase follow-up appointments all the time.
"I stopped leaving the house and became housebound. Then, I had carers sent in, but still nothing happened.'
Samantha struggled with her mental health and lost the energy to keep chasing GPs for follow-ups.
'I just feel so lost'
It was not until 2021 that she finally secured another appointment with a surgeon, but he told her the hernia was too big to operate on and referred her elsewhere.
She said: 'I had another appointment for an operation but the surgeon told me he couldn't operate on a hernia of that size.
'So he referred me to another surgeon. I saw that one this January and he said it was too late.
"He said if he operated now it would kill me, because the hernia has forced my organs down.'
She has now been told by three different surgeons that her case is the biggest hernia they have ever seen.
Samantha said: 'I just feel so lost. I don't know what to do with my life. I've become housebound and I feel like I am just sitting here and waiting and going crazy.
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"I want to work, I want to have things to do. My mind is so active. But I can't. I don't see a future. It's all an absolute nightmare.'
Samantha believed her life would be very different if she had been treated earlier.
She said: 'If they had operated at the first chance, I would have been 39, and everything would have been a lot safer.
"Now I'm heavier than I've ever been and I'm getting more and more immobile. It's much more dangerous.'
The hernia has left her unable to work and she now survives on disability benefits.
'All I do is sit here'
She said: 'I'm 56. My mind is so active. I'm desperate to work, I've taught myself how to build a website and set up a company, but I just can't do anything.
'I struggle to get dressed. I can't go to a restaurant because the hernia is too big for me to sit at the table.
'Nowadays, it's more uncomfortable than painful. But the painful thing is that I just don't know what to do with my life.
'My mum lived in Spain and I couldn't even travel to see her before she died.
'All I do is sit here and see a carer. There's nothing in my life.
'I just want to have a life.'
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