72 Litres OF Fat...
From My Legs!
when I was 15, there was one thing about my body that I hated – my weird, puffy ankles, which seemed to just appear one day.
I hid them with long, baggy trousers and hoped the swelling would go away. But they just got bigger, then my legs started to balloon, too.
‘You need to lose weight,’ the doctor said.
I didn’t feel I was overweight, but Mum put me on a diet anyway.
Slowly, the weight dropped off my tummy, boobs and face…but sadly not my legs. They were now excruciatingly painful, too, so I returned to the GP.
Still, I was told to lose weight! Deep down, I knew it was more than just being chubby, and gave up with the GPS.
Instead, throughout my 20s, I suffered in silence.
Thankfully, I had a lovely boyfriend, who was very supportive – and, in 2007, we had a little boy, Alfie.
Two years later, a persistent rash of eczema on my legs made me go to see my GP for the first time since my teens.
This time I was referred to a dermatologist.
No cure
‘Claire, your legs!’ the consultant gasped.
‘ Here we go again,’ I thought. And I assumed he was going to tell me to lose weight.
‘I think it’s lipoedema,’ he said. It’s a condition where fat cells expand in the legs, causing them to grow to an abnormal size.
Suddenly, it all made sense.
Referred to St George’s Hospital, south London, I was formally diagnosed.
‘Unfortunately, there’s no cure,’ the doctor explained.
The only way to control my inflating legs was compression clothes, stemming the growth.
Researching online, I found a number of support groups and hundreds of women enduring the same turmoil.
And the good news… there is treatment available.
A specialist procedure called
I knew deep down it was more than just being chubby…
tumescent liposuction would drain all the fat away.
But considered aesthetic, the procedure isn’t available on the NHS – and would cost me almost £50,000!
I refused to let that shatter my dreams of slimmer pins and applied for funding. Only, it was rejected.
I had no choice but to raise the money myself.
Friends and family rallied round and we organised fundraising events.
In June 2014, I decided to lose weight to make me healthier for the treatment.
Slim all over
In just over a year, I lost 8st!
But my legs were still like huge trunks on my slim body.
‘I want to help,’ my dad John, now 69, said one day.
I felt guilty taking his money, but I couldn’t go on like this. ‘Thank you,’ I sobbed. In April last year, I was admitted to Spire Parkway Private Hospital, Birmingham, for my first round of treatment.
Seven rounds and 32 hours of surgery later, they’d removed 72.6 litres of fat and, by this June, my legs looked brand new.
Plus, to get rid of the saggy, crepey skin from the weight I’d lost, I had a tummy tuck, arm lift and a breast reduction.
After 17 years of trauma, I’m pain free and confident.
Finally, I’ve got my life – and legs – back!