Tragedy of mum who died in Turkey after weight loss surgery she 'so desperately wanted and needed'

A mum from Oldham died after flying to Turkey for gastric sleeve surgery she 'so desperately wanted and needed', an inquest heard. Leanne Leary had an undiagnosed deep vein thrombosis which led to her having a heart attack on the operating table, the hearing was told.

The 38-year-old was resuscitated and rushed to intensive care, but suffered a second fatal cardiac arrest the following afternoon on Sunday, July 2, 2023.

Rochdale Coroners' Court heard Ms Leary, a mum-of-three, had fallen on the stairs at work then complained of leg pains after going to Istanbul to watch Manchester City play in the Champions League final the month before her death. On her return to the UK she underwent tests for DVT, but they were inconclusive, the inquest heard.

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The compliance manager, from Hollinwood, told her friends she had a ‘small blood clot’ which didn’t require treatment. The inquest heard Ms Leary, who had asthma and pneumonia, originally booked the weight loss surgery in April to take place in October, but brought it forward to July while she was off work sick.

She didn’t inform her parents of her plans to undergo the £2,000 operation for fear they would try to talk her out of it, nor did she discuss it with her GP. Ms Leary’s final text messages to her dad Paul Dermody as she was about to go into surgery on the morning of Saturday, July 1, were read out in court.

“I didn’t want people to try put me off,” she wrote. “I need this for me and my health.”

Mr Dermody told the court: “I said I fully support what you are doing, but I want to know where you are every step of the way before and after surgery.”

Ms Leary’s mum Kathleen Scott said: "I would have 100