A 35st woman who can’t fit in her bathtub is terrified she’ll die during her wait for weight loss surgery.
Laura Davies can barely walk due to her huge frame and relies on her mum and 16-year-old daughter to help her around the house and care for her.
The 38-year-old from Preston said she had always been big but after she began taking a new medication she piled on the pounds, growing from a size 22 to a size 32 over four years.
Laura admits gorging on crisps and chocolate and often picking off her kids places and docs have warned her if she doesn’t tackle her weight she could die young, LancsLive reported.
But she’s terrified that during her wait for a gastric bypass she may die, so she’s turned to trying to fundraise £5,000 to go abroad for the operation.
The mum-of-three previously dropped three-and-a-half stone back in 2019 when preparing for an operation.
However, after it was cancelled she packed the weight back on, and any future operations were put on hold due to covid.
Now, the desperate mum has set up a fundraiser in the hopes of being able to fly to Turkey to have the operation privately.
Laura said: "It's a vicious cycle, I feel depressed so I eat more to stop myself from feeling depressed so I put weight on.
"I don't eat loads but I eat the wrong things. I've got three kids and I pick off their plates after I finish my tea and eat crisps and chocolate.
“I've just got no confidence at all, the person I am now isn't the person I was a few years ago. My mum is my carer and my daughter has to help me doing stuff.
“I need a shower seat and I can't get a bath because it's an eco-bath and I don't fit in it. Even buying clothes [is an issue], before I could grab whatever.
"Even though I was big, a size 22, I could buy something from Asda but now I have to go to special shops and it's not cheap.
“I've had enough now. I don't want to leave my kids and my doctor said if you don't do something you're going to end up dying young. It's embarrassing to have to ask for money but I need to be here for my girls.
“I have to try everything to try and get this. I'm terrified of being one of those people who's stuck in the house but I'm also so embarrassed.”
Laura said she would never be skinny, but just wanted to be healthy and able to play with her kids once more, instead of watching on the side lines.
Back in 2019, Laura was put on the list for a gastric bypass and shed 3.5 stone in preparation but she put the weight back on when the op was cancelled.
Tragically Laura doesn't believe her body could survive if she has to wait another four years.
Laura said: "I've lost a lot of weight in the past. I've always been big but even when I was 18 stone, I went to the gym three or four times a week.
“When I first started putting weight on, I was doing aqua zumba and I was trying to lose the weight but it was just an uphill battle.
"I had a fitness plan made by a PT. I was walking and I was so overweight but I had some fitness and now because I've put the 10 stone on it's so much harder.
"I can barely walk. I was told to lose five per cent of my body weight and keep it off.
"I got referred to the NHS, you have to be educated on how to eat properly then you see a psychologist and dietician. I'm on medication and the doctor said I had to be stable on it for six months.”
However, because her dosage was upped and changed this classed her as “unstable” so she couldn’t go forward for the surgery and she would have to wait six months before applying again.
Then Covid delayed any possible operation another eight months and she was faced with starting the daunting process again.
Laura was forced to give up work as a cleaner and her master's degree in criminology because of how her weight was affecting her health. But she's hopeful that after surgery she'll be able to get back into education and work.
Laura said: "[Having the op means] I'll be more of a hands-on mum, be able to play with the kids and go back to work.
“It'll give me some life back before I'm too old to enjoy it. I'd love to go and work but I couldn't be on my feet for nine hours [now]."
You can donate to Laura's page here .
