A young mother who lost more than half her body weight is appealing for help to get a life-changing operation to remove her excess skin.
Leanne Kendellen, from Balbriggan in Co Dublin, lost 12 stone in two years – but the folds of skin she’s been left with are making her sick and miserable.
The mum of two was 21st 9lb at her heaviest but resolved to turn her life around so she could have active play time with her sons Luke, four, and two-year-old Liam.
Now Leanne, 31, has launched a GoFundMe to raise the €17,500 needed to have excess skin, which gets infected and can be extremely painful, removed via surgery.
She told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “I have been obese my whole life despite trying every single diet going.
“I would go on a diet and lose four stone and then put back on five.
“It was really hard to lose the weight but I was just so fed up that I knew I had to do something about it. I started going to the gym and eating right and then got my gastric band surgery.
“I want to get the excess skin I have left removed but there is a long waiting list. I’m on it but I could be left waiting more than eight years. I know people like me who are waiting that long.”
Leanne said having a procedure to remove the extra skin would totally transform her life.
She went on: “It would mean everything to me to be able to have the surgery to have the extra skin removed.
“I have body dysmorphia and because of the skin I still feel big and then I also get rashes under the folds of the skin which turn into infections.
“I’m constantly at my GP getting steroid cream for it. It’s very painful too. It’s so hard to see all the hard work you have done when you still have this hurdle on front of you.
To donate visit www.gofundme.com/f/reconstructive-surgery-after-78kg-weightloss
