Mark Spurr was pleading ‘on my hands and knees’ to get the treatment through the NHS but didn’t meet the criteria
A dad was left crying on his knees, pleading with his GP after being told he did not fit the criteria to get weight loss injections on the NHS. Now, after getting the treatment privately at the cost of £3,500, 54-year-old Mark Spurr has lost 13 stone in a transformation that was so drastic he no longer looks like his passport photo.
The security officer, from Morley, West Yorkshire, started receiving Mounjaro weight loss injections last summer and documented his weight loss journey online through his TikTok and YouTube channels titled MarkOnMounjaro.
Mark initially tried to get the medication when he reached 30 stone and could no longer fit into his required stab-proof vest, putting his security job at an immigration centre in Leeds at risk. But that wasn’t the only way his weight was affecting his life.
He told PA Real Life: “I was basically on my hands and knees, crying my eyes out and pleading with my GP to prescribe me something. I was in so much pain.
“I might as well have been smashing my head against a brick wall as I was told I didn’t fit the criteria, but they recommended that I take it privately.”
He told PA Real Life: “I was basically on my hands and knees, crying my eyes out and pleading with my GP to prescribe me something. I was in so much pain.
“I might as well have been smashing my head against a brick wall as I was told I didn’t fit the criteria, but they recommended that I take it privately.”
Mark has struggled with his weight for the last decade. At his heaviest, he even struggled to walk from the car park into his place of work and had developed type two diabetes.
Despite being a slim child, he began gaining weight after leaving school at 15 and becoming a joiner for Leeds City Council. Looking back, the dad recognises that he used food as a “coping mechanism” and spent £25 daily on junk food.
While the cost of Mounjaro has turned some people away from private treatment, Mark estimates it has saved him £12,000 that he would have spent on food in the 17 months he has been having the jabs.
It is still a relatively small price to pay for the benefits it has given Mark, as he shared: “Mounjaro has given me my life back in so many ways. I have reversed my Type 2 diabetes, saved my job and am spending more time with the family – doing normal things like going for a walk rather than hiding in a gym where I was too unfit for outdoor exercise.
“I even need a new passport. Flying to Spain in June, airline staff said my picture doesn’t look like me and nearly didn’t let me board the flight.”
However, he warned people not to take his success on face value noting that it’s not a “magic jab”. He added: “It gets more difficult to remain focused as time goes on and if you’re not prepared to change, you will be throwing money down the drain.
“You’ve still got to be prepared to quit the junk food and get help with the emotional side of what’s causing you to eat.”
Mark is still continuing his weight loss journey, his next – and final – step is to address the two stone of excess skin which will put him at his goal weight of 15 stone. He plans to reduce his Mounjaro dose and maintain his weight for the next 12 months and has a GoFundMe page open to raise money for his skin removal surgery.
He added: “To get this far is a real personal achievement. This is the last thing now holding me back.”