Couple with a combined weight of 42stone to have 'his and hers' gastric band surgery costing the NHS £24,000

Roy and Kate Glencross have seen their weight balloon after spending years eating fried food, cakes and biscuits.

Roy, 60, now tips the scales at 24 stone and is virtually housebound because his knees need replacing due to the constant strain of his weight.

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Kate, 59, carries 18st 6lbs on her 5ft 3ins frame and her blood pressure is so high she needs 13 pills a day to keep it under control.

After years of failed dieting the pair have persuaded their local NHS trust to pay £12,000 each so they can both undergo drastic surgery to shrink their stomachs.

Mr Glencross, a former fireman, said: "I want my life back. I want to play with my grandchildren and walk on the beach.

"What's more, I want to see my grandchildren grow up and get married.

"But to do it without my wife at my side would not be the same. Doing it together will give us the strength to get through it."

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The couple, who have both been divorced, got married in 1979 when housewife Kate weighed 8st 6lb and Roy 14st.

Their weight has slowly increased over the years and the surgery has been offered as a last resort as their health deteriorates and other techniques fail.

Mr Glencross said: "We were comfortable with each other. We were happy. So, we gave up caring about weight.

"In hindsight it was madness. We used to eat truckloads of all the wrong stuff."

In an average day Roy would have a full English fry-up for breakfast, followed by a coke and a Mars bar mid-morning.

Lunch would be fish and chips washed down with more coke. He would tuck into a couple of packets of crisps to stave-off the hunger before home time.

Once home, Roy would eat cake or crisps, followed by a full meal - usually fried food.

Late evening, in front of the television, Roy would snack on cakes or biscuits.

And Kate wasn't far behind him in the eating stakes but her weight gain was exacerbated by thyroid problems.

She said: "The more you eat, the bigger your stomach gets. I would only eat when I was hungry but I felt hungry all the time and I craved sugar.

"But now we're more educated about food, I'm horrified to think what we ate." Peterborough Primary Care Trust agreed to fund the procedures after a two-year consultation period.

The couple, who have four daughters between them from previous marriages and eight grandchildren, are due to have their operations on June 10.

Mr Glencross, who stands 5ft 11ins tall, will be the first on the slab at Peterborough District Hospital followed by his wife.

A specialist surgeon, Dr Roger Ackroyd, will travel from Sheffield to perform keyhole surgery - there are only five surgeons in the UK experienced enough to carry out this operation.

The surgery involves reducing the size of the stomach by creating a pouch in the upper stomach using surgical staples then removing part of the small intestine.

This way the person can only eat small meals and the food eaten will not be absorbed so well, reducing calorie intake.

To qualify for the surgery patients must have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 or more - unless there are additional health reasons such as diabetes or a heart condition in which case the cut-off point is a BMI of 35.

The couple easily qualify because Mr Glencross has a BMI of 46 and his wife has one of 47.

Mr Alfred Choy, the couple's consultant at Peterborough District Hospital, said: "It is certainly very rare for a husband and wife to have operations like this on the same day.

"But it made sense. Otherwise lots of moral issues are raised - such as who should go first.

"It was also logistical - a specialist surgeon is coming down to operate and its best to do it in one hit.

"It is unusual surgery. I only perform between six to 10 of these operations a year - and I have only performed it with open surgery.

"The keyhole surgery offers a far quicker recovery time."

After their operations the couple will stay in intensive care for 24 hours before being transferred to the same ward. They hope to be discharged within the week.

After a month of consuming nothing but a thimble of water every 30 mins, they will have a further month of drinking milk powder before moving onto liquidised food.

Roy hopes the surgery will allow him to lose at least seven stone, at which point doctors will carry out a knee replacement procedure.

Mrs Glencross said: "Stomach stapling isn't a quick fix. It's going to be tough - physically and emotionally.

"It's like being a newborn. Your stomach has to get used to food, and minimal amounts of food, over a long period.

"Psychologically, it'll be tough. And there's no going back. To have a partner who knows your pain will be a massive help."