A MOTHER who took drastic measures and shed 15 stones to become pregnant spoke of her joy after giving birth and said: "She's my little miracle."

Tanya Wood weighed 28 stones when she was told by doctors two years ago that she would die by the age of 45.

Today the scales rest at 13 stones and Ms Wood, who lives with her partner, Peter, in Easingwold, North Yorkshire, has regained her fertility to become the proud mother of one-month-old Sophie.

The 27-year-old's journey has been a hard one, having had her stomach stapled by surgeons so it became the size of a tennis ball.

Sections of her intestines were also bypassed so her body could not absorb as much food.

Ms Wood, who once had to have her clothes hand-made in a size 40, said: "I want others to know that you can do something about your weight, you do not 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 is because of something you have done, but I have an underactive thyroid gland."

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

Ms Browning said: "When Tanya went through with 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 stones at seven years old, and I have tried every diet there is."

Both women will have to take medication for the rest of their lives, but said it was a small price to pay for regaining their futures.