A WOMAN who dropped from a size 40 to a 14 after a dangerous operation to staple her stomach today spoke of her joy at becoming a mother.

Tanya Wood, 27, weighed 28 stone and was told by doctors she would die by the age of 45 when she agreed to the drastic operation in 2001.

Today, she weighs 13 stone and has regained her fertility to become the proud mother of one-month-old Sophie, who she calls "my little miracle".

Her mother, Helen Browning, 54, is now planning to have the same operation to reduce her weight from 21 stone and increase her life expectancy by 20 years.

Tanya, who lives with partner Peter, said: "I want others to know that you can do something about your weight, you don't have to suffer in silence. You can get your life back.

"There is such a stigma surrounding obese people. Everyone assumes that if you are big it's because of something you've done, but I have an under active thyroid gland."

Tanya, of Crankley Lane, Easingwold, says she was determined to turn things around when she reached a size 40 and Helen was making all her clothes.

She decided to put herself through a gastric bypass operation, where surgeons staple the stomach so that it becomes the size of a tennis ball.

They also bypass sections of the small intestines so the body cannot absorb as much food and patients spend months eating liquidised meals, gradually weaning themselves back onto solid food.

Helen said: "When Tanya went to have the operation I thought it was a bit extreme but you have only got to look at her to see what it can do.

"I have been big all my life - I was seven stone at seven years old - and I've tried every diet there is."

Both women will have to take medication for the rest of their lives but says it is a small price to pay for regaining their future.

"It really is horrendous, the things people say to you," said Helen. "Society can be so cruel."

Updated: 09:37 Saturday, September 06, 2003