Kelly Burndred, 37, (pictured after) weighed 30 stone at her heaviest in 2014, but had slimmed down to just 10.5 stone by March 2015 after having weight loss surgery
A mother who lost 20 stone after getting a gastric bypass to achieve her dream body hanged herself because being thin made her feel worse, her husband claims.
Kelly Burndred, 37, weighed 30 stone at her heaviest in 2014, but slimmed down to just 10.5 stone by March 2015 after having weight loss surgery.
The mother-of-one, of Chesterton, Staffordshire, had battled with her weight since she was a child.
Her husband Gareth says she ‘suffered most of her life’, constantly obsessing about her size and developing post-natal depression after the birth of her daughter in 2003.
He was hopeful her weight loss procedure would improve her mental health, but it ended up making it worse. ‘We hoped, after the gastric bypass, that Kelly would find the happiness she craved. But her depression got much worse. She had blamed all her problems, all her life, on her weight,’ he told Stoke on Trent Live.
After two unsuccessful suicide attempts, Mrs Burndred killed herself in April.
Mother-of-one Kelly Burndred (pictured before her weight loss with daughter Jess and husband Gareth) of Chesterton, Staffordshire, had battled with her weight since she was a child
Her devastated husband found her unconscious downstairs but paramedics were unable to save her.
After two unsuccessful attempts, Mrs Burndred committed suicide in April 2018
Speaking to the website, he described his battle to cope with his wife’s death: ‘It’s something I wake up in the night with.
‘Telling Jess was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I drove to her grandparents and I broke the news.
‘I feel guilty, that I couldn’t save Kelly, that I didn’t spot the signs – if there were any. But at the same time, I know I did everything I could.’
Mrs Burndred’s hair fell out after her weight loss procedure, which her husband believes added to her anxiety.
The first attempt on her own life came when Mr Burndred was woken in the middle of the night to his wife running a bath and carrying an extension cable into the bathroom.
She admitted she wanted to kill herself, but he managed to talk her out of it and she began taking medication.
Then two days after the couple were watching a documentary on a Hollywood star’s suicide. She insisted they watch it together and Mr Burndred thinks this could have been another sign.
Gareth Burndred and his daughter Jess (pictured) has set up a support group in memory of his wife and her mother Kelly (pictured centre)
Days after she awoke in the middle of the night and said she wanted to go downstairs to be alone.
Her husband made her promise to come back to bed within the hour, but she never returned.
In the morning he ran downstairs when he realised her side of the bed was empty – to find her slumped on the floor.
The Burndred family has now set up Kelly’s Legacy to raise awareness of mental health problems in their local area.
Mr Burndred and his daughter Jess have also been placing personalised notes on bridges near their home to reach out to people considering taking their own lives. An inquest into Ms Burndred’s death will be later this year.
For confidential support in the UK, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see samaritans.org for details.