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Benefits Street star SLAMS NHS for allowing him to ‘slowly die’

He says that he has been denied the weightloss surgery that would save his life

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Benefits Street star Stephen Beer has blamed the NHS for letting him down and allowing him to ‘slowly die’.

Tipping the scales at 35 stone, an emotional Stephen broke down in tears as he insisted that he wasn’t ‘lazy’.

He believes that it was the NHS not forthcoming with surgery that has meant his battle with his weight has taken an almost fatal turn.

Speaking out on This Morning, he told Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that the health service was allowing him to slowly die as it is now too late to reverse the damage done.

Stephen welled up with tears when he confirmed to Phil and Holly that he had already had three strokes.

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He said: “The trouble is when I look into the mirror I slowly see myself going…

“I’ve been told that if I lose the weight I will get surgery.

“But the NHS is just letting me down, I did that and surgery never came my way, it’s too late.”

Stephen, 46, had appeared in a TV documentary with his wife Michelle, that followed their weightloss battle.

He now believes it was the fitness bootcamp that has helped contribute to him gaining weight.

He explained: “I carried on with the weight loss then there were things going on all of a sudden I just had a meltdown.

“Psychological factors and I just turned back to eating again for comfort.”

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Holly suggested that maybe he wasn’t doing enough to lose the weight that would help him with getting to a place where the NHS might help.

This just got Stephen riled, who hit back saying: “I’m not lazy. I am never lazy, I went away to bootcamp.”

It seems that he has gone full circle though, as his wife Michelle has returned to being his full-time carer.

She confirmed the situation: “It’s gone back to the way it was at the beginning. I am just his full time carer.”

Stephen said that the situation hasn’t been great for his self-esteem: “I feel horrible, I’ve always blamed myself about the weight.

“I feel like I have been left behind.”


Nancy Brown
Associate Editor