Today in news from across the pond, we bring you the tale of Amy Murray. Amy is a mom and self-proclaimed chocoholic who turned to GoFundMe for gastric bypass band surgery after finding out NHS wouldn’t cover it. In case you aren’t aware, NHS is basically the “free” socialized medicine our friends over in the UK get just for being where they are. Cool huh?
An obese mother who has launched a fundraising campaign to raise thousands for private gastric band surgery is going on a luxury cruise paid for by her husband’s inheritance.
Amy Murray, who weighs more than 27 stone, is begging for public donations after being told by doctors that she cannot have the £10,000 surgery on the NHS.
The 31-year-old launched a GoFundMe page two days ago and has already received £375 towards the £7,000 she is hoping to raise. Mrs Murray and her husband Andrew, 36, will pay the other £3,000.
It has now emerged that the mother-of-one, who argues that her disabilities make it ‘nigh impossible’ to lose weight naturally, will be jetting abroad next month.
OK, let’s break this down. Murray weighs around 378 pounds. That’s a lot, sure, but even folks tipping the scales on My 600 Lb Life are expected to lose some weight on their own before Dr Now will approve them for surgery. 378 lbs is manageable. If she was able to do the math on what surgery will cost her, surely she can do the math on calories in < calories out. Sorry, my thin privilege was showing for a moment there.
In order to have the procedure, she was told she’d have to lose 1.5 stone, or a smidge over 20 lbs. Despite claiming independent weight loss is ‘nigh impossible,’ Murray insists that she’s changed:
“The weight gets in the way of everything – I can’t take her for walks or play with her, it’s heartbreaking. I did eat unhealthily, but I’ve changed.
I was a chocoholic and would skip breakfast and lunch, then in the evening when my daughter went to bed I’d binge on takeaways and crisps and chocolate. I’m now eating more healthily.
I know it’s my fault, and a lot of people won’t understand – they will just say I need to diet or stop eating.
I don’t want to be like this, but it’s not that easy – if it was I wouldn’t be in this position.”
While her honesty and acceptance of what got her to this place are admirable, what she appears to be lacking here is confidence in her ability to translate healthy choices into the weight loss she’s seeking. What people eat and how fat they are or aren’t is no one’s business, of course, unless one puts their business on the Internet and asks for money. Especially when they then announce a luxury cruise while still asking the Internet for money. See the prob here?
Apparently Murray did, as her GoFundMe page has now been vaporized.
She says she and her husband purchased two luxury cruises with his inheritance money before she discovered NHS wasn’t footing the bill for her ‘life-saving’ surgery. I dunno about you but if I was basically dying, my priority would be making sure surgery is covered before jetting around the world but that’s just me.
Her page raised £375 (about $540) before it was removed. Here’s hoping she can find her way, for the sake of her daughter.
