{"id":807762,"date":"2026-10-19T17:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T17:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/807762\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T17:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T17:30:09","slug":"bury-st-edmunds-womans-plea-for-chronic-pain-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/807762\/","title":{"rendered":"Bury St Edmunds woman&#8217;s plea for chronic pain surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Erika Contu, 34, who works as an operating theatre worker and lives in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eadt.co.uk\/local-news\/bury-st-edmunds-news\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bury St Edmunds<\/a>, is appealing for help to fund breast reduction surgery after being refused treatment on the NHS.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ms Contu says the pain from her size 42JJ chest is so severe that it radiates into her shoulders, neck, and head, sometimes causing her to vomit.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She told The Sun: &#8220;I\u2019m in so much pain that I have to take [painkillers] daily.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;I can\u2019t sleep properly because of the position \u2013 on my side, back, or tummy are almost impossible to sleep, I have to turn all the time.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;The pain is awful. There are days when it goes into my shoulders, neck, and into my head and I\u2019m physically sick, it\u2019s getting worse.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>She was refused treatment on the NHS (Image: Erika Contu\/GoFundMe)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The pain has also affected her work, as she is unable to fit into X-ray protective gowns, resulting in her being asked to leave the room during procedures.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She said: &#8220;It\u2019s embarrassing, I can\u2019t provide the care that I need to my team and the patients and that\u2019s what is worst for me.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ms Contu has also developed painful rashes and bleeding under her breasts and says the size of her chest is impacting her mental health.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Despite losing 1st 5lbs using the weight-loss medication Mounjaro, she is still unable to meet the NHS BMI criteria for surgery.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ms Contu says she still has more than 6st to lose before she would shift her BMI to the NHS target of 27.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>She has lost weight to try to meet the BMI criteria for surgery (Image: Erika Contu\/GoFundMe)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She has now launched a fundraising campaign to raise the \u00a35,500 needed for private surgery.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  She added:\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t want to go out, I didn\u2019t know what else to do and that\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/breast-reduction-to-help-me-live-work-and-enjoy-life-again?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">why I opened the GoFundMe<\/a>.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A spokesperson for NHS Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board (ICB) said: &#8220;We are sorry to hear about Ms Contu\u2019s experience.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;While we cannot comment on individual cases, breast reduction surgery is available on the NHS in Norfolk and Suffolk where clinical criteria are met.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cClinical criteria are based on national evidence and include a BMI threshold, because surgery carries a significantly higher risk of complications at a higher BMI and health outcomes are better when weight is stable.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cWhere a patient\u2019s circumstances are clinically exceptional, their clinician can apply for funding through an Individual Funding Request, which is considered by a clinical panel.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cWe would encourage Ms Contu to discuss this with her GP, or to contact our Patient Experience Team if she would like us to look into her case further.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Erika Contu, 34, who works as an operating theatre worker and lives in Bury St Edmunds, is appealing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-807762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}