A mum has managed to shed eight stone after she became morbidly obese through binge eating. Sara Hennigan, 43, says she was inspired to change after the loss of her family members.
The 43-year-old, at her worst, weighed 18 stone and admits she turned to food as a 'comfort', following the tragic triple loss. Manchester Evening News reports that Sara first lost her mum, Jackie, back in 2017 as she died from lung cancer aged 74.
Her brother, John Wynne, also died from lung cancer just two years later. More recently, Sara's dad, Joe, died from sepsis last year.
Sara said: "Each night I took a big bottle of Fanta, a family bag of crisps and a family size chocolate bar to bed with me - I was eating for comfort. But then I realised how hard a battle my mother and brother and father had fought. They had done everything to hold on to their lives, yet I was just throwing mine away. I realised I had to change."
The Welsh mum was a healthy weight during her younger years, however, in the years following the birth to her two sons, she started piling on the weight.
Sara said: "I was always really busy, doing stuff for my family and the community. I didn't leave any time for myself, I didn't look after myself, and I slowly started gaining weight.
"I was really close to my mum. In her final days, she came to live with me, and I cared for her.
"It broke my heart when she died. It was the worst pain I have ever felt and I ate to make myself feel better. We were still grieving for mum when my brother, John, was diagnosed with exactly the same cancer. He had a tumour in the middle of his lungs, just as she did. It felt so cruel, for our family to be struck twice.
"I began raising money for immunotherapy treatment and John completely changed his diet and lifestyle; he started eating fish and white meat and cut out all processed foods. He did lots of research and he became very scientific about his entire approach.
"He went to therapists to get the toxins out of his body. He tried cannabis oil. He did everything he could, and I was convinced he was going to make it. He was such a strong character."
However, despite his battling efforts John died aged 54 in June 2019, leaving his sister devastated. Sara turned to food once again.
Although this time, she found inspiration in the way her brother had battled his illness. Sara added: "I realised that I had a life, and that I had the opportunity to do something. John was my inspiration. He knew he was dying, but he still gave it his best shot."
Sara decided to take action to lose weight and joined a slimming group. She said: "My mobility was shocking. I had pains in my hips and my back. I was really depressed and downhearted.
"I got to the doors of Slimming World, and I couldn't even walk through them. I felt so ashamed. I just went home. It took me weeks to build up the courage to go back and join the group.
"And from then, I didn't look back and I began losing weight." In a heart-breaking twist in July 2021 Sara was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Despite, thankfully getting the all-clear after surgery, she lost her father and brother later that year. However, instead of losing focus, she used each tragedy as inspiration for her weight loss.
Sara said: "I swapped takeaways for fakeaways and I didn't touch sweets or cakes. I certainly didn't have the two litre bottles of fizzy drinks. I started cooking healthy recipes. I completely changed my diet.
"The weight dropped off but for me, the real benefit was to my mental health. Of course, I had setbacks, I put on some weight after dad died, but I relied on my mum and my brother in heaven, to get me through it.
"I took my strength from them. At the start of the year, I joined a gym, which was a real game changer, and I started my own walking group in the community, which was really popular.
"I started off walking short distances and increased it up to several miles each day."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
