Kaydell Brown had just celebrated her 38th birthday. After a tough few years, she had started rebuilding her life and hoped cosmetic surgery would help. Instead, it killed her.
The mother of two from Sheffield made initial enquiries about procedures to Clinic Expert in Istanbul who swiftly suggested a “Mummy MOT” – multiple procedures including a tummy tuck, liposuction and a Brazilian butt lift.
Over several weeks, Kaydell was bombarded with emails, phone calls and WhatsApp messages, illustrating before and after images that Kaydell could achieve. They offered cut-price surgery, flights and a hotel along with further discounts if she signed up for multiple surgeries.
Kaydell worked hard to find the £5,400 needed and travelled to Istanbul with her sister Leanne. She went into theatre on the morning of March 26, 2024 but never came out.
In an exclusive interview with ITV News, Leanne said: “She went in for surgery at about 9.30am and that was the last time I saw her.
I was in the room waiting for her to come back. I'd asked a few times where she was, how long she was going to be and they just kept saying she was coming and then I got a knock on the door.
"Three people walked in and said, can you come with us please?
"They took me to a room and they just started trying to say, you know, there's complications with surgery, you know things can happen. And I said, 'has my sister died?' And he just said, 'I'm sorry, but yeah'.”
Leanne was in deep shock. The clinic, it seemed wanted to get Leanne home.
“
They just gave me an envelope and said here’s your money back and here’s your sister’s money back. And here’s your flight. It’s like, sorry she’s dead, here’s your plane ticket," she said.
"When you go in and you’re paying, they’re your best friends but when something goes wrong, you’re left to yourself, it’s goodbye.”Leanne was refused access to Kaydell’s body and a flight back to the UK was hastily arranged by the clinic.
When Kaydell was eventually examined by a coroner in the UK, more devastating news was to come, large parts of her brain, lungs and heart were missing.
“When they returned her body, they kept pieces of her heart and her intestines and that could show the cause of death, but we might not know because they’re not very cooperative," said Leanne.
"They sent a death certificate saying no cause of death, how can they not find anything?”
ITV News tracked down the team at Clinic Expert who were responsible for Kaydell’s care. Authorities in Turkey rejected our visa
