I LOST HALF MY WEIGHT AND BECAME A WOMAN

Pinning a purple flower into her bleach blonde hair, pretty Ava admired herself in the mirror. She had every reason to be proud. In the space of a year, she had lost an incredible 17 stone. Her weight dropped from 37st 1lbs to 19st 7lbs, and she slipped into a dress before gazing at her newly svelte figure. With her smokey eye makeup and black skater dress, she could have been glamming up for a night on the tiles with her girlfriends. Instead, it was Halloween, 2013, and Ava was hiding a huge secret. Born a boy named William, it was the first time she had ever dressed as a girl – and everything fell into place.

Other great stories
HOUNDTON TABBY

FROM MRS Patmore to Lady Sybil, these barking mad illustrations show the WOOF-er side of some of our most loved Downton characters .

POLAR BEAR HUG

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LAST MILITARY HOSPITAL TIME CAPSULE

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KUNG-FU LEOPARD CUBS

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SUNBATHING OTTER

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FALSE KILLER WHALE BEAMS AS HE CATCHES HIS LUNCH

Say cheese! This cheeky chappy isn’t in the mood to live up to his scary reputation as he is pictured here cracking a killer smile as he goes about his daily business .

£34m TAX FRAUD RACKET JAILED

A man who conned tax officials out of £34 million and funded a lavish lifestyle of luxury hotels and restaurants has been jailed for one of the longest sentences in British criminal fraud history .

SMALLEST HOUSE IN THE UK

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ADORABLE PENGUINS HATCH AT UK ZOO

HOPPING onto the scales, these adorable baby Humboldt penguins are ready for their first weigh-in .

CHEEKY BABY GORILLA

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SURREAL WILDLIFE

AN EXERCISING turtle and an ice-skating chick are hardly everyday exploits in the animal community .

RELAXING OTTER

FLOATING effortlessly on his back, this little otter laps up a rare glimmer of English spring sunshine .