Sophie Hughes strikes a confident pose for the camera – but she has something far more important to show off than the beachwear she is modelling.
She wants people to see the seven-inch scar running down her midriff too.
It shows how she saved her baby nephew’s life by giving him part of her liver.
Sophie was crippled with insecurities after the operation and initially refused to let anyone see it, not wanting to even wear a bikini on the beach.
But she now wears her scar with pride and is keen to prove to other young girls that a normal body is beautiful.
Sophie has just appeared in two online modelling shoots for lingerie and beachwear – and has signed a contract with a top agency.
The 29-year-old said: “For girls and young women to see images of me, curvy and with my scar, it proves that it’s OK to have a normal body.
“It’s so important for girls to see women with cellulite, bigger bodies and things like scars to show you don’t have to have a size six body to be beautiful.
"I was crippled with insecurity at first, having a seven-inch scar down my stomach. Now, I embrace it with pride and I’m ready to show it to the world.”
Sophie travelled to the UK from her new home of Australia to help brother Ant when his baby Oscar needed a lifesaving liver transplant in May 2016.
Weeks after his birth in October 2015, he was diagnosed with biliary atresia – a condition where the main bile duct from the liver does not form properly.
An operation at seven weeks failed and medics advised a transplant.
Ant said: “We were devastated when doctors said it was Oscar’s only chance of survival.
“We were keeping all the family updated with a group family email and we told everyone that doctors had said they were looking to see if any family members could help.”
Doctors did not want to test Ant and his wife Kerry, both 35, because they would have to look after Oscar.
When Sophie saw the email, she was desperate to help – but she lived 10,000 miles away after moving to Australia from her home in Stockport, Greater Manchester, a few years earlier.
She said: “I’d come to Australia backpacking and three days after I arrived, I met a musician in a bar called Andre and fell in love. We moved in together six weeks later.
"But I had been told what was happening to Oscar by email from Ant and I was devastated when I knew he was so poorly.
“When I saw the email from Ant to say doctors had suggested a live donation from the family, I knew I wanted to help Oscar. I rang Ant up to tell him I’d like to be tested.
“At first he said absolutely not – they were still hoping a deceased donor could be found. He said to me he didn’t want to potentially lose me as well as Oscar.
“So I left it a few weeks but then Oscar was quickly getting worse. It was heartbreaking to hear each day how he was going more and more downhill.
“I texted Ant every day to see how he was.
“After a few weeks, I said to Ant again that I would do it and, by now, Oscar was so poorly that he said to come back to the UK and see if I was a match.
“I got on a plane straight away and let the doctors carry out tests on me.
“I was so nervous when I boarded my flight – I just wanted to be a match. I couldn’t think about anything else, other than I wanted to save my nephew.
“It normally takes weeks and even months to carry out these tests. But because I’d come all the way from Australia and Oscar’s condition was so urgent, the results came back in three days. It showed I was a match, which was amazing news.
“I rang Ant and Kerry and said, ‘I’m going to do it, I’m going to save Oscar’.”
But it was a worry for Ant, who feared for his sister’s safety.
He said: “We were thrilled Sophie was a match but also we knew there was a risk to her. It was major surgery for her.
“And I was also worried about how she would cope afterwards. I knew it would leave a big scar.
“For boys a scar is a badge of honour but it’s not the same for young women.”
Sophie said: “I knew Ant and Kerry were worried about me – there was a one in 200 chance of me dying – but it didn’t seem important compared to trying to save Oscar.”
The transplant took place at Leeds General Infirmary. Sophie said: “I did struggle afterwards – I was very sick with the morphine they gave me. And it was very upsetting for Ant to see me like that.
“I was desperate to see Oscar afterwards. The first thing I asked the nurse when I came round from the operation was, ‘Is Oscar OK?’
“When Ant and Kerry came to see me it was so emotional and then later I was taken in a wheelchair to see Oscar. It was amazing to see him – and he looked so much better already. He looked much pinker and wasn’t the awful yellow colour he had been.”
Sophie spent 10 days in hospital and it was three months before she was well enough to fly back to Australia. She became very self-conscious about her scar and would not wear clothes showing her stomach.
She said: “I went on the beach but for a year I wore a swimsuit, there was no way I was going to wear a bikini.
“I really struggled with my confidence but then I was on Instagram one day and I saw accounts of women who were showing their normal bodies and were proud of all their lumps and bumps.
"It got me thinking about my scar and I suddenly thought if they could do it, then perhaps I could too.
"So I took a few photos and put them on Instagram and I got such a positive response from them. It made me feel much better and more positive about myself.”
As a result of her striking Instagram photos, under @soph.bombshells, Sophie landed two online modelling jobs for swimwear and lingerie companies in March.
Days later she was approached by the Wink modelling agency in Australia and signed a contract.
She said: “The response has been amazing. I feel much more positive about my body image now and I know I can have a scar and still look beautiful. That’s the message I want to get out there to other young women.”
Oscar is doing really well now and loves playing with sister Millie, seven.
He said: “I got my liver from Aunty Sophie and I love her.”
Ant and Kerry, who live in Stockport and are supported by the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation, will never forget Sophie’s sacrifice.
Company director Ant said: “Sophie and I have always been close but this has brought us closer than ever. We were looking down the barrel of a gun.
“And I’m so incredibly proud of her modelling work. She is such a strong and special person, and now she’s showing that to the world.”
