Life Tips 03/07/2025 14:59

A healthy 29-year-old d!ed weeks after a common gut problem, warning thousands are unknowingly at risk.

The haunting story of a seemingly 'healthy' 29-year-old who passed away merely weeks after experiencing a 'stomach ache' has highlighted the dangerous consequences of frequent binge drinking.
Dylan Thomas Wakefield, a pub landlord from East Yorkshire, woke up on April 24 this year with "a relentless searing pain" on the upper left side of his stomach.
As his condition worsened, he drove himself to the hospital, where he was initially diagnosed with gastritis—an inflammation of the stomach lining. However, just a few hours later, it was discovered that his symptoms were actually caused by acute pancreatitis.
Acute pancreatitis occurs when the pancreas becomes severely swollen, potentially leading to life-threatening complications such as necrosis, where parts of the organ’s tissue die. This can result in infections, leading to sepsis—an extreme immune system response to infection that can be fatal.
Pancreatitis has long been associated with excessive alcohol consumption, with studies indicating that around 25% of cases in the UK are alcohol-related. Alcohol can trigger the pancreas to overproduce digestive enzymes, which then attack healthy pancreatic tissue.
Although the exact cause of Mr. Wakefield’s pancreatitis is yet to be confirmed, his brother, Nathan Lamb, 31, suspects it was linked to his alcohol use.
“Dylan liked a drink, but at only 29 years old, you wouldn’t expect someone that young to face these kinds of issues,” Nathan said. “He had his whole life ahead of him. It feels so unfair.”
Tragic music producer Avicii, who suffered from acute pancreatitis linked to alcohol and painkiller abuse, had his gallbladder and appendix removed before his untimely death by suicide in 2018 at the age of 28.
Shortly after Mr. Wakefield’s diagnosis, doctors noticed his blood pressure had dropped dangerously low. To give his organs time to recover, they sedated him and attached him to various machines, telling his family they would take over his bodily functions to help him regain strength.
"He was connected to several machines, and they told us they would handle things to let Dylan’s body focus on recovery,” said Nathan.
Mr. Wakefield regained consciousness two days later, and his condition began to improve slightly. Nathan even shared a heart-wrenching post on Facebook to inform the family that Dylan had woken up.
However, just three weeks later, Dylan’s health took a sharp decline, prompting doctors to induce another coma to protect his brain from the effects of oxygen deprivation caused by organ failure.
Unfortunately, doctors were unable to save him, and Mr. Wakefield passed away on May 28.
"This whole ordeal has been a massive shock. We never expected this would end in his death," said Nathan. "He had eight siblings, and they all miss him. We were a very close family, and they meant the world to him."
In the wake of his death, Mr. Wakefield's friends started a crowdfunding campaign to help cover funeral expenses.
Each year, around 2,500 people in the UK are diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, and one in five of these cases progresses to necrotising pancreatitis—where the tissue starts dying.
The condition shares symptoms with gastritis, including stomach pain, bloating, indigestion, vomiting, nausea, and fever. It can also cause a rapid heartbeat and yellowing of the skin and eyes, known as jaundice. However, the NHS notes that jaundice may be less noticeable in individuals with darker skin tones.
The latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that alcohol-related deaths in the UK have reached record levels, marking a continuous rise for four years. In 2023, there were 10,500 fatalities, a 4% increase from 2022 and a 38% rise compared to pre-pandemic numbers from 2019.
Earlier this year, MailOnline published a map showing alcohol-related death rates across local areas in the UK. Sunderland, located in the North East of England, recorded the highest alcohol death rate in Britain, with nearly 30 deaths per 100,000 people—double the national rate for England.

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