‘I thought evil doctor saved my life – but he left me with physical and mental scars'

Finance account manager Cheryl Iommi, 54, from King’s Norton, tells new how her breasts were butchered by surgeon Ian Paterson and how she suffered further trauma when her implant ruptured

- LEBBY EYRES

As I came round from the lumpectomy, I gradually became aware that not only had my right breast been operated on, but my left breast too. I was still groggy, but slowly shock seeped through me. Why had my doctor, surgeon Ian Paterson, cut both breasts open instead of one?

A few months before, in November 2002, I’d found a lump on my right breast and the GP referred me via the NHS to Mr Paterson at Solihull Hospital. I had a mammogram and he told me I needed a lumpectomy in my right breast. I found him abrupt and arrogant and I hadn’t given consent for my left breast to be operated on.

When the bandages were removed and I saw my left breast, he’d taken so much flesh out, it looked empty. There was a visible dent in the breast and because he cut around the nipple, there was no feeling there. It was beyond words, really – I was devastated. Mentally, I’d prepared myself for having scars on my right breast, but now I was going to have to cope with something completely unexpected. I was young at that point, aged 36, and I wanted to look nice for my late husband David.

When I spoke to Paterson about operating on my left breast, initially he said, “Well, it’ll fill back up with fat, give it time.” He was dismissive but I was naive and trusted he’d done the right thing in removing the lump he said he’d found. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to make a complaint. I wasn’t the most confident person about my figure anyway and what had happened made my confidence so much worse. Paterson suggested I get a referral to have a reconstruction. The NHS wouldn’t fund it so we paid the £3,600, even though my husband didn’t think I needed one.