Obese mother-of-three Amanda Griffiths's case is almost a mirror image of Alan Kaminski - without his marathon hospital stay.
She was first put forward for stomach surgery four years ago and is still awaiting the treatment.
The delay for Amanda - who puts her weight at "about 20 stones but I no longer dare get on the scales" - is partly down to clinical reasons as other conditions developed.
But just like Alan, some hold-ups built up because she didn't want her operation at the Walsall hospital where the PCT had referred her to.
Instead she wants her own gastric surgeon Chandra Cheruvu to carry out the surgery at the University Hospital.
And now the Hartshill complex is set to launch a service, the wait could soon be over.
Single-parent Amanda, aged 32, from Abbey Hulton, saw her weight balloon after a difficult pregnancy with oldest daughter Justine, now 16. She sank into depression and turned to comfort eating, sometimes scoffing six bags of crisps a day. Her dress size soared from 12 to 32 but she had a wake-up call when she developed gall bladder problems and irritable bowel syndrome linked to her weight.
Unfortunately her first attempt at exercise resulted in her suffering a hernia.
Although she now lives on salads and potatoes and swims 150 lengths of Fenton pool a week - resulting in her dropping two dress sizes - the stones are not coming off quickly enough. She says: "I need to lose weight quicker so I can have the hernia repaired before it gets too big it threatens my life. The only answer is a stomach operation.
"Mr Cheruvu has offered to do that, plus the hernia and gall bladder all at the same time but he is being stopped by NHS bureaucracy.
"Hopefully things will now change and I was delighted to hear my local hospital is starting a service to offer this surgery.
"All I want is my life back."
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