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
HEARTBREAK DIET LOST ME 11.5ST AND BAGGED ME A FELLA
When Janet Curry, 38, was told she was ‘too big to date’ by a man she met on the dating website Plenty of Fish, she didn’t let it stop her from looking for love .
WHEELCHAIR BASEJUMPER
THROWING himself off 1,100ft bridges in a wheelchair, this is the PARALYSED base jumper who knows no fear .
PHANTOM PREGNANCY NEARLY STOLE MY BABY DREAM
A young mum has told how a phantom pregnancy almost destroyed her dream of having a second child .
KUNG-FU FROG IMITATES KARATE KID
Balanced on one leg, a frog assumes the crane kick martial arts stance made famous in the movie The Karate Kid .
I'M READY FOR MY CLOSE UP NOW, MR NUTKIN
Red squirrels are well known for their intelligence and curiosity but when one snapper caught this furry little guy trying to take his own self-portrait he couldn't help but be taken aback .
ADORABLE BEAR CUBS SHARE A HUG
ROLLING around in the snow, these young brown bears take a break from their play fight to share a tender hug with one another .
BEAR CUBS AND DOTING MUM
A little brown bear cub shows his doting mum that she is always on parent duty as he uses her as a scratching post .
ABANDONED TEXTILE MILL
HUNDREDS of colour coordinated yarns lie abandoned in this once thriving textile mill .
CHEEKY BABY ORANGUTAN
CLIMBING, falling and tugging on his weary mum, this little orangutan is up to all kinds of trouble .
RELAXING OTTER
FLOATING effortlessly on his back, this little otter laps up a rare glimmer of English spring sunshine .
WORLD’S LARGEST JIGSAW
Made up of 40,000 pieces, putting in over 200 hours of work and blunting endless blades, this is the final result for the world’s largest jigsaw, finally finished on Wednesday .