Sophie Hughes was in Australia when she received a gut-wrenching email from the other side of the world. Her baby nephew was gravely ill – and she was the only one who could save his life.
The Stockport model had been living in the country for three years when she was told the news in May 2016. Just weeks after her brother Ant welcomed his son Oscar into the world, the tot was diagnosed with a rare condition.
Doctors discovered the newborn had biliary atresia, an illness which causes the bile ducts outside and inside the liver to become scarred and blocked. The condition can prove fatal if not corrected with surgery or a liver donation.
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When surgery failed, a transplant was the only option left. Medics did not want Ant and his wife Kerry to volunteer because they would need to look after Oscar – leaving them struggling to find a match.
As soon as Sophie heard of Oscar’s condition, she immediately offered herself as a donor. Ant and Kerry declined, hoping a deceased donor would be found.
But as Oscar’s health rapidly worsened, the desperate couple agreed to Sophie’s help and she flew 17,000km back to the UK and the operation went ahead. In Sophie's determination to help, she hadn't given much thought to what the procedure might mean for her.
“I was a good match because I had a small, fatty liver,” Sophie, who lives in Wilmslow, told the Manchester Evening News. “So it worked out in his favour.
“Before the operation, doctors told me that weight gain was very likely. But when you’re talking about saving a child’s life, you don’t hear that because it’s irrelevant. It doesn’t matter. You’re not thinking about that in the moment – but they weren’t wrong and I started to gain weight after the surgery.”
Thankfully, the gruelling eight-hour operation was successful and Sophie spent four months in the UK before flying back to Sydney.
While recovering at home in Australia, she noticed her body was rapidly changing – seeing her go from a size 8 to a size 14.
“It was a really big adjustment looking at myself in the mirror,” Sophie added. “I had a seven-inch scar down my stomach and my body image was at an all-time low.
“I struggled to put a bikini on and I struggled to be confident within myself, which to be honest isn’t something I’ve struggled with before.
“I was eating well and exercising and the weight was piling on regardless,” she added. “Nothing had changed, yet my body was changing so rapidly.
“It was really rough because I had to relearn what I could wear and how to dress for my shape which I never had to do on a bigger body before.”
Sophie was left with crippling body image anxiety following the surgery and took a break from modelling, believing she would never model again. No matter what she ate or how much exercise she did, she was unable to return to the body she had before.
But two years later, when she was 27, she was scouted by a plus size modelling agency on Instagram.
Sophie moved back to the UK at the end of 2021 after splitting with her partner of nine years. She now works as a successful curve model and content creator, proudly showing off her curves and scar on her Instagram page . She also helps support Children's Liver Disease Charity following her experience.
“Other body positive influencers on Instagram really inspired me,” she added. “It made me realise there’s so much more to me than just the way I look and the body I’m in.
“I moved back to England and started doing modelling here and that was the start of my career as I know it today.
“I’m the happiest, most confident and most settled in my body that I’ve ever been,” Sophie said. “Now that I’ve just turned 32, I think part of that is age, you realise there’s more important things in the world.
“But a lot of that is learning and really working on and respecting my body. I feel strong and I feel healthy, and those are the things I focus on now – not my cellulite or my muffin top.”
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