Jess Carlson lost almost five stone after the virus caused ongoing problems with her stomach
A woman who has not eaten a regular meal for nearly two years after Covid-19 triggered a rare stomach condition had to pay £23,000 on surgery unavailable on the NHS.
Jess Carlson, 34, originally from London, had been living in Singapore since 2018 with her husband, Dan Mogg, 36, but in May 2023, she contracted Covid-19 and her health took a shocking turn. Jess, who is now based in Essex, had to be put in an induced coma and placed on feeding tubes, and it is thought the virus caused persisting problems with her stomach which made her vomit constantly after eating.
Losing nearly 30 kilograms (4st 10lbs) in the eight months following, Jess decided to return to the UK to be closer to family and to seek help via the NHS as she began to suffer with seizures and blackouts with the lack of nourishment.
After spending months pushing for answers, Jess was finally diagnosed with gastroparesis in May 2024, a rare condition where the stomach’s muscles do not work properly to digest food.
She had an operation on Monday to insert a gastric pacemaker into her stomach to help her eat normally again, but it could take up to a year to see whether the surgery has been successful.
Relying solely on GoFundMe donations, Jess has been able to cover the £23,000 cost of the operation as it is not available on the NHS in England, prompting her to launch a petition for the treatment to be government-funded.
“It’s been way over 18 months since I’ve sat down, enjoyed a meal and not had to have a carrier bag nearby,” Jess, who works for an international removal company, told PA Real Life.
“There were days where it was constant and I hadn’t been to sleep because I was throwing up for hours. I’m classed as one of the lucky ones to only be going through this for two years, I’ve spoken to people who have waited 10, 20 years for a diagnosis.
“I want people to understand that gastroparesis is real, it’s debilitating and it desperately needs more awareness.”
Jess and her husband of six years, Dan, relocated to Singapore in 2018, but towards the end of May 2023, Jess contracted Covid-19 for the second time. Her health rapidly deteriorated for a week, even worsening after she tested negative for the virus.
She was admitted to hospital in Singapore where it was found her oxygen levels were very low. “It’s all a bit of a blur, I think I was in hospital for two weeks and one night I just rapidly declined,” Jess said.
“I was struggling to breathe and the next thing I knew, I woke up a few days later in the ICU and they were taking me off a ventilator. They put me in an induced coma and I had a feeding tube placed down my throat and into my stomach.
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“They left the feeding tube in for a while but every time I was trying to eat, I just felt really sick. I was struggling to breathe and the next thing I knew, I woke up a few days later in the ICU and they were taking me off a ventilator.
“They put me in an induced coma and I had a feeding tube placed down my throat and into my stomach. They left the feeding tube in for a while but every time I was trying to eat, I just felt really sick.”
“We held off as long as we could but I wasn’t getting any better,” she said, adding Dan stayed to continue working and support the couple financially. Throughout this time, Jess’ weight plummeted, with her 5ft 7in frame dropping from 80 kilograms (12st 8lbs) to 52 kilograms (8st 2lbs) when she returned to the UK.
Desperate for a diagnosis, Jess went to her GP surgery armed with her paperwork from Singapore and she was immediately referred to A&E. Still struggling to keep anything down, Jess started experiencing seizures, blackouts and dizziness due to dehydration and malnourishment.
At a hospital, which she did not wish to name due to an ongoing claim, Jess underwent several tests but nothing “physically wrong” could be found. After being referred to a clinic in London, Jess had a gastric-emptying test aimed at measuring the time it would take her to digest food and in May 2024, she finally received her gastroparesis diagnosis.
The long-term condition refers to problems with the stomach muscles where food passes through much slower than it should, with just 14 in 100,000 people diagnosed in the UK, according to the charity Guts UK and cases as severe as Jess’ are rare.
Jess said her doctors estimate Covid-19 triggered the condition through a viral reaction, but it is not possible to narrow down the cause entirely. “If I didn’t have my mum, my family and my support network, I would’ve carried on with life miserably,” she said.
“I think there’s thousands of people suffering and not getting the help they desperately need because they’re not well enough to fight for themselves.” Since receiving her diagnosis, Jess remained on feeding tubes and had Botox injections in her stomach, while also trying different medications to ease her symptoms.
She underwent an operation at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, on Monday to implant a gastric pacemaker into her stomach to help stimulate the muscles – but it could take up to a year to gauge whether it has worked.
“I should be able to eat again but it’s sort of like a baby learning to eat, I’ll go from liquids and mush to eventually solids,” she said.
As the surgery is not available on the NHS in England, Jess had to rely solely on GoFundMe donations to cover the costs of the pacemaker and the hospital fees, which came to £23,000 in total. She has also launched a petition campaigning for the government to fund the operation going forward.
“There’s no cure for gastroparesis, that’s the be all and end all, but there’s limited treatments that can help a person get some sense of normality back,” she said.
An NHS spokesperson said: “Gastroparesis is a debilitating and complex condition, and we sympathise with anyone affected by it. NHS England remains committed to funding clinically effective treatments where they are supported by strong evidence and affordable for the NHS, but so far there has been insufficient robust evidence to justify routine commissioning.
“Clinicians can trigger a review of our commissioning policies if new evidence is published.” To find out more, visit Jess’ online petition here
