8:33am Monday 17th March 2008
By Gina Bebbington
A WOMAN who was told she could not have a baby because she was morbidly obese has lost more than 10st in nine months.
Not only has Claire Garner gone from 21st 10lb to 11st 1lb but doctors have also told her there is no reason why she cannot have children.
The 28-year-old said: "I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and told to go away and lose weight.
"I asked what my chances of conception were and they said that at the weight I was I would seriously jeopardise my life and the child's if I got pregnant.
"I was absolutely heartbroken and for the past six years I have lived a living hell getting bigger and bigger and bigger and feeling more and more like my life wasn't worth living."
Claire, of Maidwell Close, in Winsford, first started piling on the pounds when she moved in with her boyfriend Stephen Ruscoe 10 years ago and went on the contraceptive pill.
She came off the pill when she was 21 to try for a baby but was diagnosed with PCOS after she was rushed to hospital with a phantom pregnancy 18 months later.
She was spurred to lose weight after her sister told her she was pregnant in April last year.
Claire said: "All of a sudden I thought no-one can help me, I've got to help myself and I've got to do something about it."
She joined the weight management programme LighterLife in May last year and in February this year was given good news by the doctors.
She said: "I went back on February 29 and I've no longer got PCOS - I've cured it through weight loss."
Her dramatic weight loss also means Claire is safe to go under general anaesthetic for an operation to cure a recurring ear infection.
She said: "To anyone in my situation I would say never give up hope - keep trying and trying."
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