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
£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 .

PEEKABOO SQUIRRELS EMERGE FROM THEIR NEST

SQUEEZING their furry faces through a hole in a tree, a trio of curious baby squirrels leave their nest for the first time to explore their surroundings .

KRYPONITE BEACH

LUMINOUS green rocks could easily be a beach from Superman's homeland of Krypton .

POLAR BEARS HAVE A SPLASHING TIME

Playing, splashing and generally messing around, these polar bears show they certainly have a soft spot for the water, and not just each other .

GLACIER ICE CLIMBING

COURAGEOUS climbers descend 400 metres as they manoeuvre their way through thick walls of ice .

HOLY COW! DARING FARMERS IN THRILLING CATTLE RACE

An Indonesian farmer is dragged through muddy water as he clings to the tails of two charging cows .

SLACKLINING USA

Popping impressive moves despite high-wiring at three THOUSAND feet .

LIQUID SCULPTURES

A BEAUTIFUL sight for the eyes and the imagination, these liquid sculptures take shape in many different colours and formations .

PELICANS CLASH OVER FOOD

LIFTING their heads high and bumping beaks, these aggressive pelicans clash over fish .

HOUSEWORK-OUT

STEPFORD wives from the 1950's and 60's are performing history's most sexist exercise programme .

SECRET POOL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT

HIDDEN in the middle of the Mojave Desert, a secret oasis awaits intrepid travellers .

CROC VS BAMBI

A BAMBI was dramatically caught in mid-air by a greedy Nile crocodile in a once-in-a-million flying pincer move .