Authorities BAN popular textured breast implants from use in Europe

Debbie Grokes, a 38-year-old mother of two, had textured implants put in to replace her previous ones made by the now-infamous PIP brand.

After the PIP scandal broke and a woman was confirmed to have died of cancer associated with the implants, she worried her implants would make her ill, too.

So when offered free replacements by the surgeon who had done her first operation, Mrs Grokes said yes.

Debbie Grokes, a mother of two from Billericay, Essex, developed cancer after having textured implants put in after her PIP ones were removed

‘I was told the replacement implants were made by a company called Allergan,’ she said. ‘The new, coarser-textured implants were put in in May 2012 and the PIP ones were removed.

‘At first, everything was fine. Then, in the summer of 2016, my left breast started to swell when we were on holiday in Ibiza.’

Unable to contact the company which had put the implants in, Mrs Grokes went to hospital where they drained the fluid and found no signs of infection.

She said her breast repeatedly swelled up and an NHS doctor told her she would need the implants removed privately – which she desperately wanted but could not afford.  

After numerous tests both private and NHS, she was eventually diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) – a rare form of cancer in the immune system – in July 2017, around a year after her problems began. 

‘The next day I was referred for a scan to see if it had spread,’ she said. ‘Which it hadn’t, but I couldn’t wait to get the implants out. I’m married, I’ve got children – my life was at risk.’

With financial help from her uncle she stumped up £4,700 to have the implants removed privately because of ‘long NHS waiting times’, and had chemotherapy to prevent the cancer coming back.

Mrs Grokes added: ‘I’m clear of the cancer and well now, and I’m fine about how I look. I don’t care about the size of my breasts — I’m happy without implants.’