Imagine being a car crash and not being able to get out of bed for years. That's what happened to a New York woman after a terrible crash at age 19.
Jen Costa piled on 350 pounds over 14 years, tipping the scales at almost 650 pounds after she suffered serious injuries in a car crash and was left bed-bound.
She had reached a size 9XL and was so large she couldn't stand up in the shower, needing her partner to wash her with a sponge as she sat on a chair. Then one day she spotted a white dot on her tongue while ordering take-out.
Costa was diagnosed with stage four cancer of the tongue. Doctors didn't want to remove the tongue because she was too big for surgery and radiation, so they told her to prepare for the worst.
She refused to give up and found a doctor that would perform the surgery. She underwent a 19-hour operation to remove most of her tongue and replace it with a new one made from a piece of flesh from her arm.
The surgery left her unable to eat solid food and now that she exists only on a liquid diet. Costa's shed over 500 pounds now. She's living with her grandparents while she recovers financially and looks forward to getting back her life.
Source: New York Post