Mr Amos ‘Alan’ Foster has been left with a large fold of excess skin (Image: BelfastLive/ Family )
A man who lost an incredible 20 stone says that he has “no quality of life” as he has spent nearly a decade struggling with a rare excess skin condition that puts him at risk of serious infections.
Amos ‘Alan’ Foster, from , is hoping to get urgent surgery so he can “live a normal life again” after spending the past nine years lugging around a large and heavy lump of excess skin hanging from the front of his body.
As a result of the condition, he has developed lymph node deficiency called lymphadenitis, which causes them to swell and heavily impacts his immune system and led him to have sepsis on a number of occasions.
, Mr Foster said that the condition started after he lost 20 stone, but since then he has not been able to have the excess skin removed and can no longer work as a taxi driver anymore.
He said: “Prior to losing the weight I was told that if I did it, I would get the help to have this removed. But over the past nine years I have been unable to get surgery despite having doctors who are ready and willing to do it.
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Mr Foster has been left in extreme discomfort by a large mass of excess skin (Image: BelfastLive/ Family handout )
“Over the past nine years since this condition has developed, I have absolutely no quality of life. I have had to stop working in my job as a taxi driver, I am unable to play with my grandchildren or even go out with them to the park and I find it very difficult to leave the house at all. My mental health has been completely destroyed.
“Alongside this, the condition has caused me to develop a lymph node deficiency, which has deteriorated my immune system and leaves me at a great risk of infection and I have been in the hospital a number of times due to sepsis and am on a permanent course of antibiotics.
“I just need to have this removed so that I can live a normal life again. Over the past nine years the doctors I have worked with have been incredible and I know there are surgeons who are ready and willing to do the surgery, but I am being told that the NHS is not willing to fund it.”
Mr Foster said that recent family tragedies, where he has lost six brothers and sisters in the past six years, have made him more determined to fight for this life-changing surgery to have the skin removed as he fears the next time he gets sepsis, it could be the last.
Mr Foster said he needs urgent surgery to remove the excess skin (Image: BelfastLive/ Family Handout )
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He continued: “The past few years have been very tough on our family and I have lost six brothers and sisters in six years who were all aged 60 or under. Out of ten of my siblings there are only two of us left.
“I have been told that every time I get an infection related to this condition my life is being put more and more at risk and I am now at the point that I desperately need this surgery to take place so that I can have a future with my family.”
Mr Foster’s stepdaughter Nikita has also called for an urgent surgery for Amos saying that it would give him a chance at normality again.
She said: “We all hope that Amos can get this life-changing surgery to give him his life back again. He has done everything that he can and other than his condition is in good shape and we just hope that a surgery can be funded soon.”