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
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Recovering from a rare form of breast cancer, Deborah Barnett, 43, of Stoke-on-Trent, thought she'd made it through the worst, but she was betrayed by former colleague Sandra Ramsay, of Mow Cop Road, Mow Cop, Stoke-on-Trent .
20ST WOMAN WITH 'BODY BLINDNESS' SHEDS 10ST LIKE DAWN FRENCH
A 21st stone woman suffering from 'body blindness' like Dawn French shed more than half her body weight after a shock revelation brought her to her senses .
ORDEAL: RAILING HORROR MAN HAD BEEN IMPALED BEFORE
A man who spent 30 minutes impaled on iron railings after attempting to scale an 8ft fence has told of his agonising ordeal - and how he suffered a similar mishap as a child .
ANGRY GIRAFFE DESTROYS BIKE
AN ANGRY giraffe gave a bush-riding cyclist a scare when he stomped his £2K bike into the dirt .
PURR-FECT TIGER CUBS GET THEIR HEALTH CHECKS
TRYING their best to wriggle away, three adorable tiger cubs receive their health checks at Chester Zoo .
AMAZING THUNDERSTORM LIGHTS UP THE SARDINIAN COAST
POWERFUL bolts of lightning illuminate the night sky in an incredible autumn storm over the Sardinian coastline .
RIVET-ING ALL WOOD TOWER
WELCOME to what could be the world's tallest TOTALLY wooden construction .
DERELICT MANSION
With an abandoned tricycle sitting in an empty corridor, this derelict but once grand mansion could be the setting for The Shining .
NHS CALL HANDLER SAVES OWN LIFE TO WALK DOWN THE AISLE
An NHS 111 call handler who was forced to save her own life after contracting sepsis has walked down the aisle at her dream wedding .
REAL-LIFE SHIPWRECKED EXPERIENCE
THE THOUGHT OF BECOMING shipwrecked on a remote destination would fill most holidaymakers with dread .
IT'S A WATERING CAN-VAS
AS graffiti goes, this giant mural of a sweet little girl tenderly watering a tree beneath her is a far cry from what you usually see emblazoned across cities .