When Plastic Surgery Goes Wrong

Dec. 30, 2009— -- After four pregnancies, Denise Hendry, wife of ex-Scottish soccer pro Colin Hendry, decided to go under the knife to help flatten her tummy, a decision she regretted for years afterwards, and ultimately, paid for with her life.

During a 2002 liposuction procedure, Hendry suffered nine punctures to her bowels and colon, resulting in blood poisoning, renal failure, cardiac arrest, and a collapsed lung, according to a report published in the U.K. paper The Daily Mail.

Over the next seven years, she would undergo several more procedures as surgeons attempted to rebuild her abdominal wall and give her a functioning colon, though these surgeries would all prove unsuccessful.

In a recently released excerpt from her diary at the time, Hendry wrote, "I wish I could turn back the clock about six years... this is an awful nightmare. I just want my life back together for my kids' and Colin's sake. This is so unfair."

During a final procedure this past spring, Hendry contracted meningitis from an epidural catheter and after two and a half months in intensive care, the mother of four died from massive brain damage July 10, according to U.K. press reports.

In her diary, she wrote that she was "angry that those responsible can go home at night and be with their families and I can't; angry that not enough care was taken during the operation," adding that what happened to her was "a risk that was never discussed" and would have made her opt out of the optional procedure had she known, the Daily Mail reports.