AN EX-SOLDIER was so desperate to become a woman he performed a DIY sex change operation on himself.
When Roland Mery, a 61-year-old, married, father-of-four from Newport, was told he had to wait two years for gender reassignment surgery he decided he had no option but to do the job himself.
Telling his wife of 23 years, Julie, that he had a headache, Roland took some painkillers and headed for the family bathroom. Using a home-made surgery kit, he removed his genitals, losing two pints of blood in the process.
But for Roland, this drastic action was his only way of setting himself free.
“From the moment I walked down the stairs after I did it I just felt right. I had repressed my feelings for so long,” said Roland, who is considering changing his name to the more feminine-sounding Rolande.
“I had worked out exactly how I would do it and rehearsed it many times. It proved to me afterwards that your brain and emotions can overpower you so much. I had rehearsed the whole thing over and over. So when it came to actually doing it, the pain wasn’t an issue anymore.
“My priority was to just get rid of it all, but I obviously had to be very careful.
“When I was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital afterwards, the doctor told me I had actually done quite a good job!”
