Woman living with obesity urges people to 'listen to their bodies' 

Marion Bagnall: 'I just want people to remember to challenge their healthcare professionals and know your own body and if my story can help one person to find their voice, I will be so glad to share my experience.'

A woman who is living with obesity has said patients should not be afraid to challenge their doctors and “listen to their own body”.

Marion Bagnall, 64, has suffered with the disease since 1991. She believes it is the result of suffering trauma following a car accident.

On World Obesity Week, Ms Bagnall said she had been given terrible advice by healthcare professionals over the years, as she struggled to make progress.

In 2021, more than 200 people were admitted to hospitals in Ireland suffering with obesity, according to Freedom of Information figures released to Newstalk.

Those figures include 113 patients over the age of 45, while 61 were between 25 and 44.

Ms Bagnall told the Irish Examiner how she went from just over 10 stone to 18 stone between 1992 and 2002 and struggled to get to the bottom of her illness.

She said: “I was in an accident, and I presumed the trauma and change that occurred was part of the issue. I was on steroids and I presumed that brought about a change. The accident was in 1991 and it was the following year I started gaining weight.

“Once I went on steroids, I gained weight. I was on crutches. I’d say a stone went on every year. I had five pregnancies over six years, and I never gained much weight on those pregnancies, I suffered with depression after I had three miscarriages.” 

Ms Bagnall said she was always active but “blamed” herself as her weight increased and could not understand why.

“I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and the consultant said it was probably the reason I was gaining weight, but I felt things were not being managed well in the healthcare setting I was in," she said.

Marion Bagnall was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019: 'I just feel I was not listened to. I know my own body and I knew my tiredness was not because of my weight.'

“No matter what kind of complaint I made, my weight was frequently mentioned but I did meet great healthcare professionals and my diabetes consultant was amazing.” 

In 2019, Ms Bagnall was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She said “I was just so tired. I did a lot of work but by the time I found the tumour, the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes, and I ended up having eight rounds of chemo and 20 rounds of intensive radiotherapy. I just feel I was not listened to. I know my own body and I knew my tiredness was not because of my weight.

“I have now been told by consultants that my cancer was not down to my weight, and my cancer was hormone-based and that is why I was tired.” 

Thankfully Ms Bagnall’s cancer is now in remission, and she is working in on her weight which she said is “stable”.

“I have lost a couple of pounds and I am getting back into the swing of things. I just want people to remember to challenge their healthcare professionals and know your own body and if my story can help one person to find their voice, I will be so glad to share my experience”.

Psychologist Leona Ryan told the Irish Examiner that “language is very important around living with obesity”.

“Stigma is still an issue. There was a global review of patients' experiences in healthcare settings, and around the world, the main point is, the greatest stigma in healthcare settings is with interpersonal relationships with healthcare practices. That’s disappointing.

“A lot of negative assumptions are happening. We have a problem with attitudes towards obesity. Practitioners who really want to help know it is not something simple to deal with.

“We know now that obesity has very little to do with lifestyle and no two people are the same."