A woman who lost three close family members has taken inspiration from her tragedy and lost an amazing eight stones. Heartbroken Sara Hennigan found comfort in food, after losing her mum and brother to cancer and her dad to sepsis. She also battled cancer herself.
At her lowest, the mum-of-two would lock herself away and binge eat. Her weight hit 18 stones and at only 5'3", she was morbidly obese. But now, after losing over eight stones, Sara weighs 10 stones and credits her late family members as her inspiration.
Sara, 43, 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 throwing mine away. I realised I had to change."
Sara was slim through her younger days and even after giving birth to her two sons, Keiran, 24, and Kallum, 20. But in the years afterwards, she began piling on weight. She 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."
In 2017, Sara's mum, Jackie, died from lung cancer aged 74. Her brother, John Wynne, died also from lung cancer in 2019. And her dad, Joe, died from sepsis last year.
Sara, from North Wales, said: "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."
But John died aged 54 in June 2019, leaving Sara devastated. She said: "I was so low, and I turned to food again. Each night, I'd take a huge bottle of fizzy pop to bed with me, along with a family bag of crisps and a big bar of chocolate. I thought that because nobody could see me, I could get away with it."
But as the weeks passed, she found inspiration in the way her brother had battled his illness. She said: "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 began losing weight through Slimming World in Abergele, North Wales. At her heaviest, at just 5'3", she weighed 18 stones. 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 July 2021, Sara was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and got the all-clear after surgery. Later that year, her father, Joe, died from sepsis. But instead of losing focus, she used each tragedy as inspiration for her weight loss. She said: "I swapped takeaways for fakeaways. 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."
Sara is now a size 10, weighs 10 stones and has lost over eight stones. She has been named "woman of the year", "biggest loser" and "Miss Slinky" at Slimming World, as well as "member of the month" and "star of the week" at her gym.
