Steffs Skin Removal Fund

Originally I was going to the States to have this operation but due a medical issue with my leg I have been advised not to fly so now I am having the first of two operations both in the UK. The first operation will remove the excess skin on my arms and my stomach.

The first operation is £10k.
I am currently working 2 jobs and picking up extra work as a third to save for this operation.
I set this page up originally because instead of my friends and family buying me a card / present etc for my birthday or Christmas, I said I would rather they used the same money to help me with my op. Even if thats just a £2 card or whatever. 
Literally every little helps! 

I will also be doing some fundraisers over the next year with half going to a nominated charity and half going here so keep your eyes out! 

Also, the same goes for any funds raised from www.facebook.com/memoriesinA4
So if you like paper cuts, go and take a look.

I also log most most of my weight stuff on Instagram .... www.instagram.com/iamsteffkent

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For anyone else interested .... Most of you know me but not everyone will know the background.

From the age of about 2, I have weighed the same in stones as the number of candles on my birthday cake ... gradually increasing by a stone per year. 

At 14 I was 14 stone, at 18 I was 18 stone, at 25 I was 25 stone and on my 31st Birthday I was 443lbs - just short of 32 stone.  

Ive tried every diet under the sun, being on weight watchers / Atkins / slimming world and Cambridge all while still in secondary school!

Yes like everyone I can have my bad days with food but I’ve never been one who sat and ate herself to the weight I got too. Despite my size I have always ran, swam, been active in the gym often out leg pressing some of the biggest guys in there. I’ve ran marathons, completed ultras and worked in hospitality regularly completing 18 hour shifts on my feet and in excess of 20k steps a day! 

After years of battling I was referred for consideration of weight loss surgery following the removal of my gall bladder. I followed the Tier 3 programme but they denied me a referral for surgery. I was devastated. After 6 months on a slimming world diet (despite airing my worries to them) and eating more calories than I ever had (as instructed by them) I gained - shocker....

There finally seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel though as in absolute desperation I phoned Linda, the secretary for the Bariatric Team at Portsmouth hospital and asked how I could go about paying privately to see the surgeon and at least get my case in front of him. Linda listened to me sobbing uncontrollably on the phone as I felt genuinally lost . If my weight continues to go up a stone a year... how long till I die??? 

A few hard months the followed but I managed to get my appointment in front of the surgeon on July 13th and he agreed to add me to his list! 

From the 13th July, I cut food down to a meal every other day, upped the water,  worked long shifts in a hot carvery during the summer with shorts and trousers on to try and make me sweat more and tried to loose weight in the most unhealthy way possible as nothing else had ever worked long term.  

On July 13th I was 443lbs. I got a call at the beginning of October whilst at work one day from a private number ... it was the hospital telling me my provisional surgery day was December 4th 2018! I promptly burst into tears again! It was going to happen before Christmas and new year!!! How exciting!!! 

October 30th I was at work feeling quite unwell, went to the doctor who gave me some antibiotics and sent me home.... October 31st my temperature was not coming down from 41.2 and I felt like absolute death. Again, I went into work for 3.5 hours in the morning and had several customers tell me I literally looked grey! I drove myself home and back to the doctors I went feeling like death might be easier than how I was feeling. 

20 mins later and a different doctor, I’m home packing a bag and taking a taxi to Poole hospital. As I arrived I was informed it was actually Sepsis. 

3 weeks of IV antibiotics 8 times a day and one break out to go see my surgeon in Portsmouth for my pre op ... I finally managed to get discharged on the 20th November with a strong dose of oral antibiotics to take home with me to try and get my infection markers low enough for my Bypass in 2 weeks time! 

My highest weight was 443lbs around May 2018. Following a dangerous crash diet which I don’t recommend and Sepsis, by my operation date I was down to 364 lbs on December 4th 2018. 

I am currently at 286lbs (July 2019) which is a 150lb or so loss in a year!  

The skin is already starting to hurt and cause me neck and back pain, which is why I’m already saving so that as soon as I hit the weight I want to be at, I can book the surgery ASAP! 

I will keep you updated with photos but if you have got this far ... can I say thank you for not getting bored.  :)

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