A mum-of-two who weighed 27 stone has described how she lost nearly half her body weight after medics told her she’d soon be dead.
Colleen Alway was rushed to hospital with heart failure in January 2019, she recalls listening to her family at her bedside as they were advised to help her "get her affairs in order" because she didn't have long left to live.
Colleen, 48, said doctors gave her the shock news that 85% of her heart had stopped working.
"I'd been having trouble breathing and when the doctors ran some tests they told me only 15% of my heart was actually still functioning," Colleen, from Neath Port Talbot, explained.
She described how her overeating and more than 40-a-day smoking habit had left her barely able to walk, Wales Online reports.
She said: "I remember one of them saying that he didn't know how I'd managed to survive that long.
"He then told my sisters I'd be lucky to see another five years given the state I was in."
However, it was a male nurse working on her ward - "a lovely lad called Liam" - who told her all about Slimming World.
"He'd recently lost 10 stone himself and recommended I give it a try," said Colleen.
"So, after I was discharged, I went to my local branch and hobbled up to the front doors on a pair of sticks.
"But that's as far as I could get - I had no confidence, you see.
"My anxiety was through the roof and I was afraid if anyone saw me they'd just point and laugh.
"I must have gone back and forth to that door three times before I mustered the strength to go in."
And, once she did, Colleen admitted she's never looked back.
She said: "I've always been big and have always had a problem with food, especially takeaways and sweet things.
"I also smoked a lot - 40 cigarettes a day, plus roll-ups.
"So I'd have no energy and would even struggle to go from the front door to my garden gate."
Having had asthma since childhood didn't help the situation either.
"In later life, I'd get a cold each winter which would turn into flu.
"That would then become a chest infection before eventually developing into pneumonia.
"I'd be in and out of hospital every Christmas - right up until that point where I was told that if things didn't change I wouldn't be around much longer."
By making little alterations to her lifestyle she said she's noticed a huge difference.
Colleen said: "It's not about denying yourself all the things you like to eat. Just being sensible and using lighter cooking oil or grilling food instead of frying it can make a big impact.
"I've also joined a walking group and regularly stroll along the prom at Aberavon beach - and, while I still have to stop for the occasional breather, I never could've managed that before.
"I'm now down to 15 stone and feel so much healthier and happier.
"It's scary to think how close I got to the edge though."
