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I had three metres of skin removed
and lost 13st... it's party time!
SLIMLINE
CHRISTINE CAN FINALLY ENJOY CHRISTMAS
ASHMED
of her size 28 figure that was more Christmas pudding than cracker,
Christine Morris always shied away from festive fun.
But the lonely divorcee decided to
take drastic action the day she had to have her car seatbelt extended to
fit around her 24 stone frame - only for the seat to break under the
strain.
Now, Christine, 41 has lost 13 st and had three square
meters (9 ft 9in) of skin cut off just to go to her works Christmas party-
the first she has been to in 23 years.
She had a gastric band
fitted, followed by a full body lift to remove all the saggy skin from her
arms, stomach, boobs and bottom which left her looking like a giant jelly.
Christine
who is 5ft 4ins now weighs 11 stone - and is more than ready to make up for lost time.
She said, ‘I
can’t wait to hit the dance floor this year. I’ve always been too fat to dance
so just stayed at home eating instead. Now I finally have a body I
can move'.
‘I
lost 12 stone in a year thanks to my gastric band, but I was still too fat to go
out because of all the excess skin I’d been left with.
It took two men eight
hours to cut it all off.’
‘I’ve
sacrificed a lot to get here, but it’s all been worth it. Now I can’t wait to
go to the party like everyone else. I’ll feel like Cinderella at the ball.’ This is going to be my best Christmas ever."
Pyjamas
Before
her transformation, the care worker from Oxford, would spend Christmas Eve and New Years Eve in her
pyjamas eating chocolate.
Christine
had always struggled with her weight, but when her marriage of 11 years broke down in 2005 she topped
23 stone.
She said, ‘Friends
would ask me to go out with them, but I always refused. I’d felt too fat to go
out when I was married, now I was even bigger,’
All diets had
failed, so at the end of 2008, Christine decided to have a £4,000 gastric
band operation in Tunisia, paying for it out of her savings.
‘My
sister Tricia was worried sick. After losing mum and dad we only had each other
left. She told me I was risking my life. I honestly didn’t care though, because
I knew I didn’t want to go on as I was, so I had nothing to lose. If it didn’t
work, I would want to die anyway.’
‘There
was no pain, just a small incision. But I could feel the difference
immediately. I wasn’t hungry and when I did eat, just a few mouthfuls of watery
soup filled me up.’
She lost an astonishing 14lb in the first week,
swapping slabs of chocolate and take aways for mini portions of chicken
and vegetables.
She added, "Before
I’d be able to eat a large bag of chips and still be hungry, but now just one
roast potato left me feeling full. It was fantastic and the weight kept
dropping off.’
‘People
were congratulating me and there was no denying I felt a million times better
,but what they didn’t know was that the success on the scales had left me with a
new problem."
Just 12 months after the op, she had lost 10 st and
was soon down to 13st 7 lbs, but she had huge folds of skin. It made her look bigger than
she actually was and
would jiggle if she tried to run or dance. It was worst around her tummy, where the skin hung like a huge apron, even concealing the tops of
her legs.
She said , " My
breasts looked awful too, without the fat to hide them they were all misshaped
and wonky. ’‘Having
come so far and got so close I just couldn’t give up,’
Christine
needed a full body lift but again the £30,000 cost in the UK was way out of
budget.
So
earlier this year she told cosmetic plastic surgery adviser Linda Briggs
about her predicament.
Linda had just been asked by surgeons in Tunisia to find a patient
willing to be operated on and pictured for training purposes in return for a
huge discount.
Christine said; ‘The
thought of lots of people seeing my disgusting body actually made me shake, but
I knew it was the only way I could afford to get rid of the skin so I
agreed,
She paid £10,00 for the op.
Two
surgeons spent eight hours trimming rolls of fat from her arms, stomach, back
and breasts while another took pictures to use in the teaching of medical
students.
In
total, they removed an incredible three metres of skin weighing two stone.
Christine said; ‘The
pain was nothing compared to the elation I felt when I looked down and all that
skin was gone. I had started the day weighing 13 stone and ended it weighing 11
stone,
‘I
won’t lie, the scars are big but they are worth it. Before I looked as though I was wearing
a fat suit. Now it’s gone forever and I can start a new life.
16
weeks on, Christine has been shopping for a
size 14 party dress.
Sparkly
She said, ‘I’ve
spent too many years at home in my PJs when everyone else has been having a
good time. This is my year to shine and I’m going to do it in the tightest,
most sparkliest dress I can find.
‘I’m
not telling my story to show off or gloat. I’ve been at rock bottom and I know
how it feels. I just want to reach out to all those overweight men and women
who are making New Year vows to change and tell them it can be done.
‘Never in my wildest dreams did I think I could change, now I’ve done it and it
still feels like a dream. Sometimes I wake up and forget I’v
e lost the weight.
‘In
fact, I still automatically go to the outsize section and buy black tent dresses
because old habits die- hard.
"I did this to inspire others.
If I can do it, so can you
For
more information about gastric band surgery and body lifts go to www.lindabriggs.co.uk
Additional
reporting Kelly Strange.
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