A 23-stone Scots mum is fundraising for a gastric bypass after becoming so big she got stuck on a water slide and can't even fit in the bath - as the 'wait is too long on the NHS'. Naomi Smith said she was a slightly chubby child but as soon as she hit puberty she began to gain weight, particularly in the lower half of her body, and was picked on relentlessly for her size.
The 26-year-old went through school wishing she was 'invisible' as cruel bullies would call her, 'tree trunk legs', a 'whale' and point and laugh at her, with one even telling her she should 'kill herself' online. Such actions destroyed her self-esteem to the extent she'd binge eat for comfort and self-harm - even carving the word 'FAT' in her own skin.
The mum-of-one is now a dress size 26 and no longer fits in the bath, 'dreads' getting out of bed in the morning due to being in constant pain and on some days, can barely climb the stairs. Her weight affects even her holidays - as she was left 'mortified' when she became stuck on a water slide on holiday to Florida.
After trying every diet she could think of, the full-time-mum is now fundraising £3,500 to jet off to Turkey for the life-changing procedure as the 'waiting time is too long on the NHS'. Naomi is hoping that it will stop her being held prisoner by her own body so she can live to the fullest for her one-year-old son Jack Maver.
The desperate mum, from Tain, Ross, said: "I remember one time I was out with my friends walking in front of a group of boys and I could hear them talking about my legs and saying 'tree trunk legs'. This group of boys were berating me, whispering, sniggering and laughing and I wouldn't walk past them if they were in the hallway sitting across from each other, I'd try to go the other way.
"I know they'd either put their leg out and try to trip me up or make a comment. They'd say 'you're a whale', 'do you know how big you are?' and 'you're fat'. They used the generic 'fatty boom boom' and they'd make a bigger shape with their body and kind of waddle as if they were mimicking me.
"I used to [be on a social networking site] and on there people felt like they could really go to town and just completely slate me for what I looked like and tell me I should kill myself, just because I was overweight. I started self-harming when I was around 12 and this continued for over a decade.
"After being teased so long for ‘being fat’ I went as far as to inscribe the word ‘FAT’ into my skin so I’d never forget what I was."
Naomi said that as soon as she hit puberty around the age of 11, she started gaining weight primarily in her thighs and legs. She was diagnosed with lipoedema this June, which is a condition that causes an abnormal build-up of fat in your legs and sometimes arms.
Despite being quiet and subdued in school, in a bid to 'hide away', she said bullies still managed to seek her out. Naomi said: "I really struggled with my self-esteem. I had zero. Once this car full of a group of boys pulled up beside me, rolled down the windows and they just all started laughing and throwing sweets at me.
"I just sat there frozen and didn't know whether to laugh, cry or look away. I didn't know what to do and it was humiliating. I was so embarrassed all the time to be myself and tried so hard to make myself invisible. was wearing super control underwear to school in the height of summer just to try anything to appear smaller, so they won't notice me or see me and pick on me then.
"And maybe I won't have to go home and cry to my mum. When I look back at myself when I was a teenager, I think the saddest part of it all is I really wasn't that overweight, I was slightly bigger than the average 14-year-old.
"But that's all they saw me for and I feel bad so sorry for myself in the sense that I allowed that to paint my future because it really did."
As a result of having a hard time in school, the 26-year-old fell in and out of bad eating habits. This combined with her poor mental health, saw her 'get lost' in a cycle of unhealthy eating and doing so for comfort. Sometimes she wouldn't eat for a few days at a time and then other times she'd binge.
Naomi said: "I knew the one thing that made me feel calm and happy was food. It was the only time I felt like I was really at peace. And sadly fast forward a few hours, where I've had a look in the mirror again or seen a photo of myself that I don't like, I'm uncontrollably crying because I've binged all that food and thinking 'that's the reason I look like this' and there's that constant back and forth.
"I was home alone while my partner was at work and I was in a very dark place and I went to the fridge and took out probably about 5,000 calories worth of food and just sat mind numbingly watching the TV eating until I felt physically sick because I was so full.
"I tried all the diets. I did the baby food diet and so many radical things to lose weight and it just never really happened. In Florida we went to a water park and I went to go on one of the slides where you go on a mat and lie down on your stomach.
"I went to push myself but because I'm so heavy I got completely stuck to the bottom of the chute and I couldn't move. I was like suctioned to the bottom and was mortified. There was a whole room of people behind me waiting and I'm just trying to get myself moving and couldn't, so I ended up ditching the float and slid on my stomach.
"In the moment I'll laugh it off and even now I'll do that - I think that's my coping mechanism. But in the moment deep down all I want to do is just run away and cry my eyes out and never see the light of day again because I just feel mortified."
While on holiday in Florida in 2017, the mum-of-one said she was forced to hire a mobility scooter as by her fourth day she was in excruciating pain. She said she barely took any photos from the trip due to embarrassment that she wasn't in better physical shape at 20 years old.
When she reached her heaviest weight at the age of 23, things started to take a negative turn for her physical health. Naomi now takes painkillers daily and has been advised that losing weight will help alleviate strain on her joints, exacerbated by her lipoedema.
Naomi said: "I'm in constant pain every single day. I dread getting out of my bed in the morning. I don’t fit in the bath, which makes washing myself difficult. Even in the shower I struggle as I cannot bend and move with ease.
"On a bad day I can barely get down the stairs. I have to hold on to the wall and banister with all my might trying not to fall. I worry that if something were to happen with my son where he needed me to run to him, I wouldn’t be able to.
"I finally want to be living a life that's better and a happy one, and obviously for my son, and suddenly I wasn't able to do that physically. That was a really pivotal moment for me when I thought that I needed to make a drastic change."
Naomi has amassed 11,000 Instagram followers sharing her life and journey with motherhood and it was her followers that encouraged her to set up a GoFundMe page. She claims she was told by her doctor that she'd qualify for the surgery under the NHS but that the waiting time would be considerably longer, compared to going private.
Desperate to have the life-changing surgery as soon as possible, Naomi is just under a third away from her £3,500 target. She said: "In my head all I want and hope to feel after the surgery is just lighter.
"Not because I am physically lighter but I just feel so heavy and sluggish all the time and in a constant like dragging my feet situation. All I want is to be able to get up and just do the normal. I don't want to run a marathon or become a gold star medallist - I just want to be able to do the basics with my son and take him out independently and not be held back by my body.
"I want to be that bit healthier physically where I'm able to just give him the best life that I can. If my self-confidence grows, great, if I look at myself differently, great.
"But because I'm already working towards that anyway, I don't see those outcomes as motivators for doing the surgery. It really is so I can lessen my pain, be more active, live longer for my son and be a better version of myself because I know I can be."
An NHS Highland spokeswoman said: "For reasons of confidentiality, we are unable to comment on individual cases. NHS bariatric surgery is available with specific health criteria that need to be met and NHS Highland has a service arrangement with neighbouring Health Boards to carry out this surgery.
"More people now seek this surgery privately and this may be because they do not fulfil all the NHS criteria or because they wish to get the operation sooner than the NHS can do it."
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