Ill mum in beauty queen bid
A MUM with a rare sleep disorder which causes her to put on weight is trying to forge a new career as a plus-sized beauty queen.
Yvette Kidd, from Glossop, suffers from cataplexy, a rare but serious illness, which means she can collapse when she laughs at certain things or suffers extreme emotions – she doesn’t dare play peek-a-boo with her children.
The 38-year-old also has narcolepsy, a long-term brain disorder causing excessive sleepiness which means she suddenly falls asleep up to eight times throughout the day.
As a result, she cannot drive, bathe or cook alone, and says she has resorted to hiding in toilet cubicles to snatch a nap.
Yvette, who is married to landscape gardener Andrew, 38, and has three children – Jamie, 16, Macy, 10 and Charlie, seven – said her symptoms first emerged while she was at secondary school.
But until Wythenshawe Hospital examined her sleep cycles she had no idea why it kept happening.
She recalled: “A teacher pulled me to one side and asked me if I had been up late. I had been sleeping through class, but hadn’t even noticed. Soon, I was sleeping on my way to school, coming home and through classes. The minute I sat down, I would be asleep.”
The sleepiness had an impact on her weight and by age 16 she tipped 13 stone on the scales.
Despite her problems, Yvette managed to leave school with five GCSEs and completed a course in fashion and design before setting up her own plus-size clothing business.
Yvette said: “I cried for about a day because I finally had a diagnosis. I felt happy because I could prove people wrong but, most importantly, I felt I could finally get some help with it.”
With the diagnosis came a newfound confidence, Yvette decided to embrace her curves and founded a body positivity group.
Taking it a step further, she also hopes to become a beauty queen.
So far, she has made it to the finals of two pageants, Miss Voluptuous UK and Miss British Beauty Curve, both of which are set to take place later this year.
Her attacks are slowly becoming less frequent and Yvette hopes that through a process of trial and error, she will eventually be able to get the conditions under control.
Yvette is fundraising for her pageant.
To donate visit https://www. justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ yvette-kidd