Sian Jesson, a 27-year-old NHS health adviser from Cradley, West Midlands, is selling her belongings on Vinted and has launched a fundraising campaign to raise £9,500 for a private breast reduction. She says she has been on an NHS waiting list for nine years after first seeking medical help for her 34J chest at age 15.
Nine-year NHS wait and weight loss struggles
Ms Jesson first visited her GP about her breast size at 15 and was placed on the NHS waiting list at 19. She claims doctors repeatedly dismissed her concerns, telling her she needed to lose weight. Between 2021 and 2023, she reduced her weight from 11 stone to 10 stone, but says she was still told to lose more, which led to an eating disorder.
Ms Jesson, who is 5ft 6ins, said: "It makes me sad because I do fit all the criteria boxes and it is frustrating when you know you fit the criteria and even the surgeons have said I need the surgery. I think it's just ridiculous, it's not like I'm getting it done for cosmetic reasons. It's my physical and mental health I'm getting it done for."
Physical and emotional toll of large breasts
Ms Jesson suffers from severe back pain, shoulder indentations from bra straps, and difficulty breathing due to the weight of her chest. She said: "The top of my back just hurts all the time and I've got indents in my shoulders from wearing bras. I have to wear two bras to the gym just to hold them up."
She also experiences unwanted attention from men. She recalled: "I remember when I was 15, I went to town with my friends to go shopping and a man kept staring at me and came over and asked if my boobs were real. I get it all the time, 'are your boobs real?' I just think it's really inappropriate and people just stare when I go out, it's horrible."
During her teenage years, she was bullied at school, with classmates creating fake social media accounts to share pictures of her. She said: "School kids made comments or made fake Instagram accounts of me and put pictures of boobs on there. I had to have counselling and it was really bad."
Fundraising efforts and private surgery plans
In addition to selling clothing on Vinted, Ms Jesson's friend Callie has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise funds. Ms Jesson shared a tearful TikTok video explaining her situation, saying she "can't live like this anymore."
She said: "I just need to sell my clothes and every penny I get now is going towards my breast reduction surgery because that's my main priority. I'm going to stop going out and buying stuff. I just need to get my boobs done."
Ms Jesson hopes her story will help others in similar situations. She said: "Not many people speak about it and it does make me sad. You're not alone in feeling the way that you do. It's mental the number of people messaging me saying they feel the same. I thought I was so alone in this and I was going to be stuck like this forever."
NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board have been contacted for comment.
