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.
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 .
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 .
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 .
AN ANGRY giraffe gave a bush-riding cyclist a scare when he stomped his £2K bike into the dirt .
TRYING their best to wriggle away, three adorable tiger cubs receive their health checks at Chester Zoo .
POWERFUL bolts of lightning illuminate the night sky in an incredible autumn storm over the Sardinian coastline .
WELCOME to what could be the world's tallest TOTALLY wooden construction .
With an abandoned tricycle sitting in an empty corridor, this derelict but once grand mansion could be the setting for The Shining .
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 .
THE THOUGHT OF BECOMING shipwrecked on a remote destination would fill most holidaymakers with dread .
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 .