A mum who claims her boobs are so big they suffocate her when she lays down says she's desperate to have them reduced - but the NHS won't fund the operation.
Kelly Staples, who wears a 40H bra, was already size 34F at 13 years old and knew she wanted her breasts reduced then.
But the now 23-year-old claims her GP simply said she was "overeweight" and advised her to shed a few pounds.
Determined to do whatever it took, Kelly, from Fraddon in Cornwall, lost three stone in the hope her boobs would shrink - but the weight seemed to drop from everywhere other than her chest.
The following year, she went back to her GP but was told breast reduction surgery "wasn't funded" on the NHS.
For more of the news you care about straight to your inbox, sign up for one of our daily newsletters here
Desperate for a solution, she's now trying to raise the funds to pay for a private operation.
For the last 10 years she's been forced to live with breasts that weigh about a stone, making the back and hip problems she already suffers from much worse.
She claims her enormous boobs have crushed her spine and caused a "neck hump" - meaning she needs to take painkillers just to get through the day.
Kelly, who works in a pharmacy, says she feels "trapped in an 80-year-old's body" because her boobs are so debilitating.
She said: "I can't breathe when I lie flat on my back. I get strangled by my own chest, it's horrendous.
"If I lie on my back my chest goes up so my breasts sit on my throat.
"I have to lie on my side but even then they go into like a pancake form and still rise up.
"I have to keep my arms pushing them down so they're not anywhere near my throat because I get quite claustrophobic anyway, it's too much."
Kelly says her breasts only stopped growing two years ago after the birth of her son - leaving one bigger than the other.
She described her frustration at being rejected for breast reduction surgery several times.
"The initial reason they gave me for not giving me a breast reduction was that I was apparently overweight and obviously they hadn't fully stopped growing at that point was another reason," she said.
"They didn't really compensate for my breast size and their heaviness, they're about a stone between them."
Kelly said the extreme focus on losing weight to make her breasts smaller caused her to develop an eating disorder.
After spending years trying to manage her huge breasts, Kelly is at her wit's end and struggles to do basic tasks because her joints are under so much pressure.
She said: : "It feels like it's taken a massive toll on my body. I can't run, exercise, I can't really do anything. I honestly feel like I'm trapped in an 80-year-old's body.
"It's just a lot of pain most of the time. I've been prescribed tons of pain relief and I'm only 23 and I honestly feel like I'm popping pills for days.
"I was born with hip dysplasia and lordosis. The weight of my chest brings me forward but I've got to compensate with my back."
As well as the physical toll of carrying around such heavy boobs, Kelly is also concerned about how they look and buys baggy clothes to try and "drown" her frame.
She's set up a GoFundMe page to try and raise £7,000 for private surgery, with the hope of reducing her breasts to a C or D cup.
Kelly hopes the surgery will help her feel more confident in her body while also making it easier to do practical tasks at work.
She said: "When I'm trying to reach something on the shelf I can't actually reach because my chest pushes me too far away from the shelf.
"If I'm trying to get down off a ladder my boob just gets caught on the counter.
"We don't sit down in the pharmacy and the weight from my chest, along with pressure on my hips and back, means at the end of the day I have to take co-codamol for the pain."
Do you have an interesting story to sell? Email jessica.taylor@reachplc.com
