Youngest person in world to undergo gastric bypass surgery, now anorexic

Malissa eats just 300 calories a day

Malissa Jones of Shelby, West Yorkshire, was the youngest person in the world to have gastric bypass surgery in 2008. Doctors performed the National Health Service operation costing 10,000 pounds in England, when the 34 stone teenager was told she would die within months unless she lost 20 stone. Now aged 21, the once obese woman who was labelled Britain's fattest teenager, is battling anorexia. Doctors have warned it could prove fatal within six months unless she can bring herself to eat.

Prior

The Daily Mail reports Malissa said "I would urge anyone wanting surgery to lose weight healthily. I wish I had. Surgery can have consequences you might never have imagined."

One year after surgery Malissa had lost half her body weight. She found a boyfriend and became pregnant but suffered liver failure six months into the pregnancy. The baby died an hour after delivery due to malnourishment caused by Malissa's failure to eat properly. From being grossly overweight the young woman had become anorexic and failed to consume enough food to nourish herself or her baby.

Malissa, now 8 stone,  subsists on a mere 300 calories a day but is shocked at the thinness of her body. She says "I am not deliberately starving myself but, right now, I would rather die than force myself to eat. I'm too thin. My body shocks me. But swallowing is painful. Eating a tiny amount gives me stomach cramps or makes me sick." She is aware she is at risk of dying young and says she will persevere with attempts to eat but "it is so hard."

The tragic story of Malissa Jones illustrates the psychological connection between obesity and anorexia, and highlights the dangers of teenagers resorting to desperate measures to deal with their weight issues.