A woman who was housebound due to her huge legs needed to raise £112,000 ($147,000) for life-changing surgery to remove 20 liters of fat from her limbs.
Katie Baker, from Ontario, Canada, whose legs looked like an overfilled water balloon that is about to burst’ has lipoedema.
The 31-year-old thought she was just overweight and decided to lose weight, shedding her bulge through a gastric bypass.
But Ms. Baker was left devastated when her legs continued to balloon in size. They now weigh a combined 44lbs (20kg), she claims.
Ms. Baker, who was diagnosed with lipoedema in September, was told by doctors that she was just overweight.
Her condition became worse as she can do only lie down, her 18-month-old son has gone into childcare and she has lost her job as a chef.
Sadly, Ms. Baker’s partner also broke up with her eight years ago when her condition got worse during her first pregnancy.
Speaking about her lipoedema battle, Ms. Baker said: ‘This condition is debilitating and taking over my life.
‘I am unable to sit down as my bum bruises and I experience excruciating pain when standing, which leads me to spend most of the day lying down.
‘I have experienced suicidal thoughts due to my condition getting worse and worse.
‘It isn’t just the mental aspect of dealing with lipoedema that is hard but the physical too.
‘I am constantly in pain; it is unbearable and feels like my legs are an overfilled water balloon that is about to burst.
‘I have had to put my son Benjamin who is 18 months into childcare because I can’t keep up with him.’
She said: ‘I first noticed I was getting fatter during my early teens when I was going through puberty.
‘I was known as the “fat kid” with an abnormally shaped figure as my top half was noticeably slimmer than my bottom half.
It didn’t add up as I have never had a bad enough diet to compensate for the weight.
‘I have spent most of my life feeling guilty and blaming myself for my legs – I thought I was ruining my own life by being fat.’
Ms. Baker said she gained 98lbs (44kg) during her first pregnancy with Abigail, now eight.
She said: ‘My partner couldn’t even look at me and now we’ve separated.
‘I weighed 350lbs (158kg), so I underwent a gastric bypass in 2012 which helped me lose 140lbs (63.5kg). However, my legs remained the same and failed to slim down.
‘I felt relieved when I was diagnosed, I had read about lipoedema before online, but I thought it seemed too good to be true as I’d always blamed myself.
‘I didn’t understand how someone can be fat without it being their own fault.’
Ms. Baker said: ‘I have suffered from severe self-confidence issues due to my condition causing me to be the victim of playground bullying.
‘Even when I take my children Abigail, eight and Benjamin, one, to the park – kids ask me “why are your legs so gross?”
‘It is never-ending, and I just want to feel good in my own skin.’
Ms. Baker was forced to leave her job when she was declared disabled in January 2018.
She said: ‘I want nothing more than to play with my children and return to work, I loved my job.
‘It is also stealing my daughter’s childhood; she is like a minimum around the house and always checking up on me and offering a hand.
‘I am sharing my story for all the other women who are suffering from this chronic disease and want to get their life back also.
‘I am in the process of starting a lipoedema awareness campaign on social media to hopefully educate the medical community so it can be diagnosed and monitored early on.’
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