A CEREDIGION woman in constant pain following complications from a mesh implant has won the first stage of her battle to get treatment in England after her ordeal was highlighted in the Cambrian News.

Last week the Cambrian News shared Heather Hamlin-Brewer’s struggle to get funding from Hywel Dda for treatment for the complications of mesh, implanted eight years ago during surgery for pelvic organ prolapse.

The mother-of-four, who lives between Blaenpennal and Bronant and works at Tesco Express in Aberystwyth, is now virtually house-bound and in constant pain.

Despite her deteriorating health, the 61-year-old said Hywel Dda had refused to give her cross-border funding to see a specialist in England, and there was no-one in Wales who could help.

But Heather has now received the good news that the board will fund an initial consultation with a specialist in England and thanked those who had supported her fight.

“Finally after six months of fighting like hell and with the help and support of our GP, MP, AM, a Lord and a Baroness and our local paper, Hywel Dda Health Board have backed down and awarded cross-border funding for me to see Ms Elneil at UCHL (University College London Hospitals),” she said.

“I won’t let off the party poppers just yet as it is for an initial consultation only, so Ms Elneil will have to then apply to them for further funding for treatment/surgery.

“Hywel Dda will then again sit on their hands whilst they once again exhaust all avenues within Wales to discover what everyone, including the government knows. There are no specialist mesh centres/surgeons in Wales! So my treatment is some way off yet, but the positive I focus on in all this energy-sapping struggle is I’m on my way to being me again.”

See this week’s south papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now