Roy and Kate Glencross have ballooned after years scoffing “truckloads” of fried food, cakes and biscuits.

Roy, 60, now weighs a whopping 24stone and is virtually housebound because his knees need replacing due to constant weight strain. Kate, 59, carries 18st 6lbs on her 5ft 3ins frame and her blood pressure is so high she must take 13 pills a day to control it.

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

Roy, an ex-fireman, of Holbeach, Lincs, said: “I want my life back. I want to play with my grandchildren and see them grow up and get married. Doing it together will give us the strength to get through it.”

I want my life back. I want to play with my grandchildren and see them grow up and get married.

Roy Glencross

Roy and Kate wed in 1979 when the housewife weighed 8st 6lb and Roy 14st. Their weight has slowly increased over the years. The keyhole surgery is a last resort.

Roy, 5ft 11ins, will be first under the knife at Peterborough District Hospital on June 10.

But Matthew Elliot, of the Taxpayers Alliance, said: “It’s not right to treat people who have eaten their way to obesity when cancer patients are denied life-saving drugs. This illustrates why the NHS needs radical reform.”