AN AMBULANCE technician has spoken for the first time about how her life has been destroyed by controversial mesh implants.
Debbie McGeachy is suing NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for damages after being left in constant agonising pain, unable to walk and a prisoner in her own home after routine surgery for bladder problems went horribly wrong.
She is also taking legal action against surgical tape manufacturers Johnson & Johnson for supplying a defective product.
The once fit and healthy 46-year-old, from Pollok, who loved exercise and took part in charity runs and boot camps, insists she is now a "broken woman".
Ms McGeachy has even thought about suicide after side-effects from a mesh implant robbed of a normal life, ruined her career and shattered her dreams of becoming a paramedic.
She said: "I don't have a life, this is an existence.
"I haven't been able to accept that I have been left disabled and that constant pain and incontinence is my life from now on.
"I have thought of taking my own life so many times over the past few months and have been prescribed anti-depressants."
In May 2010, Ms McGeachy had the mesh treatment for stress incontinence and an overactive bladder, brought on by heaving lifting in her job, after being told it was a "five-star" 30-minute procedure and that she would be back at work within six weeks.
However, she has been left with permanent nerve damage and is taking a cocktail of drugs every day in a desperate bid to manage her pain.
She has had several operations and botox injected into her bladder but nothing worked and she had it removed in August this year.
Ms McGeachy, who has two teenage children Hollie and Connor, was forced to stop working in May this year because the pain was unbearable and she had no control over her bladder.
She added: "The only thing that stops me from taking my own life are my kids and my partner Gary.
"I used to be a confident, bubbly, happy person with so much to live for - now I'm just a broken woman.
"The kids don't have a mother any more, they have someone they've got to look after. It breaks my heart.
"If speaking out about it can save at least one person from this nightmare then it will have been worth it."
She is one of hundreds of women left in agony after being given surgical mesh implants to treat incontinence and bladder problems, with many victims ending up in a wheelchair.
After a campaign, the then Health Secretary Alex Neil called for the suspension of the mesh implants and an independent review of the procedure to report in the new year.
Ms McGeachy's lawyer Seonaid Brophy, from Thompsons Solicitors, said: "What Debbie is going through is an absolute tragedy for her and her family.
"The problems caused by surgical mesh can have a devastating effect on the quality of people's lives and very often victims feel forgotten about by the health authorities.
"Thousands of women across Scotland are suffering like Debbie, more must be done to help them and to make sure that the widespread problems with surgical mesh are solved.".
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