A woman bullies called "thunder thighs" is wearing shorts for the first time this year - after embracing her rare condition.
Rebecca Hickson, 34, was diagnosed with lipoedema - an abnormal build up of fat in the legs - after struggling all her life with ''larger painful legs''.
Rebecca Hickson, 34, was diagnosed with lipoedema - an abnormal build up of fat in the legs - after struggling all her life with ''larger painful legs''.
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00:00I don't know if I'll ever post this video, but how I'm feeling right now is the exact
00:06reason why I need to raise awareness about Lipoedema.
00:11If I'd have known about this condition 20 years ago, I would not be in the position
00:18that I am now with fibrosis having spread all across my body.
00:23There are so many ladies like me who, their lives, their mental health, their emotional,
00:31financial health are all being impacted by this condition that will rob us of our mobility.
00:39And on top of that, in my case at least, it just makes me feel like I'm disgusting.
00:47I asked my mum to take pictures for some surgeons a couple of weeks ago, and my fibrosis
00:55is now all across my body, like my whole body apart from my hands and feet and head.
01:02And after she'd taken the pictures, I apologised for being so gross and the fact that she had
01:08to see it.
01:09I was diagnosed in February, and I am trying to work on forgiving myself, because a big
01:17part of this is realising that the reason my body looks like this is not my fault.
01:22I have multiple genetic conditions that are working together to make the progression of
01:28the fibrosis even worse than it would be with just Lipoedema alone.
01:33But Lipoedema in and of itself is an absolutely awful disease that I would not wish on anyone.
01:39It has fundamentally altered the course of my life, from relationships I've had, or
01:49more accurately, not had, because I think, why would anyone want to see my body?
01:54To the experiences I have had, you know, I've not done things because I didn't want people
01:59to think she's too big to be doing that.
02:03Even down to feelings of anger or resentment when other people, either online or who are
02:08close to me, have lost weight, because inside, all I can think is, how do your legs look
02:14like that?
02:15No matter how thin I get and how much I eat or work out, I will never look like you.
02:21My legs will always be so marked, and it's horrible being so angry.
02:27So if there's anything that you can do to help spread awareness about Lipoedema, to
02:33help girls who are going through puberty whose changes in their body tie with what
02:40you've heard about Lipoedema, so the front of their thighs starts to get a curve on it,
02:46they don't need to be fat, it's just a curve on the front of their thigh, or they start
02:50to get kind of pads on the inside of their knees, or you know someone has been pregnant
02:57and they can't lose the baby weight and there's certain areas, maybe it's their arms or their
03:03legs that have really changed, or someone's going through the menopause or similar, the
03:07earlier this is caught, then the more chance someone will have of halting or slowing the
03:15progress of the fibrosis.
03:18It's not to say that they won't still need surgery or they might not need surgery in
03:21the future, but my life would have been so different had I have known about this, when
03:28the fibrosis signs were visible in my skin with kind of the lumps and bumps in my mid-teens
03:37when I was about 14, but even for me in 10 or 11 when the shape of my thighs changed,
03:44or at any point in the last 20 to 25 years, my life would have been so different.
03:53So, gosh, this has been a very long and snotty one, and not anything that I ever anticipated
04:00sharing on my account, and who knows if I will or not, but gosh, if you can raise awareness
04:07of it, please do.