David, aged 39, BMI 58

In 2004, I had a major heart scare and was in hospital for a week. Like every doctor I'd ever seen, my specialist told me that I simply had to lose weight or else I was risking my life. To be honest, I knew this all to well, but it's so damn difficult. "You're not just morbidly obese; you're super obese", he told me. Thanks a lot!

My GP referred me to an obesity surgeon, who advised that I needed either a stomach bypass or a stomach band. I have to say that neither appealed all that much. Imagine my horror when he said that I had to lose about five stones in weight before he would even consider doing it. My breathing had not been all that good for about five years now and I have something called sleep apnoea. I need oxygen cylinders at home during the night. The surgeon said I was too big an anaesthetic risk. He advised me to have a stomach balloon fitted so that I might lose a lot of weight relatively quickly and safely before my surgery. He didn't do balloons himself, so he referred me to the National Gastric Balloon Centre.

I had my balloon in August 2006, and I immediately started to shed the pounds. By the time the balloon came out, I had lost almost 6 stones, and my breathing was massively better. I've had my stomach banding now and the oxygen cylinders have gone.

I feel like I've saved my own life.

Next - Claire's story

Previous - Angela's story