The fattest girl in the world
Jessica Gouge weighed 7st at the age of 2
Thursday 23rd August 2007
Ketchup and grease dribbled down her chin as my 8-year-old daughter, Jessica, greedily shoved fried chicken into hear mouth. In record time, her plate had been cleared again.
'I'm still hungry,' she moaned, her mouth not even empty.
'You can't be,' I said. 'You had two cheeseburgers two hours ago.'
Jessica's eyes turned to slits and her cheeks went purple with rage.
'I'm hungry now!' she wailed. 'You don't love me.'
'Please don't say that, sweetheart,' I sighed. But she was beside herself. Maybe she really was hungry? Another plate of fried chicken later, Jessica sat happily slurping Coke in front of the telly.
This was a normal night in our house. It was a habit I'd been trapped in for Jessica's whole life. And now she weighed nearly 30st. At 24st, I'd always been large and Jessica's dad, Billy, 28, weighed nearly 35st. So, at first, I wasn't worried that Jessica was a big baby at 9lb 8oz. But by her 1st birthday, she barely moved.
'Jessica is 4st 9lb. She's very overweight,' said the doctor.
I'd just been giving her normal baby food such as mashed potato, but whenever she cried, the only thing that soothed her was food. Was I really to blame?
At 2, Jessica was wearing clothes for 8-year-olds. A year later, her weight had spiralled completely out of control and her legs could no longer support her 9st 12lb body. I was out of my mind with worry. Every week, I took her to see the GP, but I always got the same answer.
'You must put her on a diet.'
That same year, Jessica's dad Billy, 29, died of a drug overdose. We'd been getting divorced, but I was devastated. And so was she.
'Where's Daddy?' she would say, over and over.
She had no brothers and sisters and now she'd lost her dad. Food was the only thing that made her happy. How could I deny her that?
So Jessica continued to balloon. At 5, she weighed a colossal 17st, and by the time she was 8, she was nearly double that. It broke my heart to see her slumped on the settee, too fat to move. I was feeding my daughter to death.
Then one day, I took Jessica to the supermarket. I'd bought an extra-large wheelchair so I could take her out. Suddenly her chubby hand shot out and grabbed a packet of cheese puffs.
'Put them back,' I said.
Her eyes glared up at me and her mouth trembled. Oh no. Not here. I couldn't bear a big scene.
'Just take them then,' I hissed.
The next day, there was a knock on the door. It was a social worker.
'You've been reported for child cruelty,' she said.
A shop assistant must have reported me. We'd been investigated twice before by Tennessee Children's Services, when Jessica was 2 and 6. Each time they decided that Jessica wasn't being mistreated. But this time I knew her weight was really out of control.
The woman took one look at Jessica and demanded that I take her to East Tennessee Children's Hospital, in Knoxville. I listened in horror as the doctor told me how Jessica was on the verge of a heart attack as her massive body pressed down on her tiny lungs. She also had insulin restriction, a condition that comes before diabetes, and she was bow-legged because of the pressure caused by her weight. My daughter was dying.
I felt so ashamed but, at the same time, hugely relieved. We were finally getting the help we needed.
In September 2005, aged 8, Jessica was admitted for emergency treatment and put on a respirator. After six weeks, she was taken by ambulance to a specialist obesity clinic at Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents, in Virginia.
There, I was made to sign something called a safety plan. It meant I was legally bound not to remove Jessica from her treatment.
'We can see you love your daughter, but it's for her own safety,' a doctor explained.
It was five days before I could make the 11-hour drive to visit Jessica again. When I did, it was such a relief to see how much calmer she was. As the weeks went by, the difference in Jessica was incredible. She was put on a strict low-calorie diet and exercise plan and she had a physiotherapist who put her on a fitness programme in their special gym. The weight fell off her.
The doctors at the clinic also helped me to understand why Jessica was so overweight.
'We think she might have been suffering from an eating addiction sparked by a chemical imbalance in her brain,' they told me.
I needed help, too, so I went to nutrition and parenting classes. I learned to be more strict, too. In the past, I'd let Jessica control me. Now I knew it was OK if she didn't like me all the time.
Finally, after 19 months in hospital, Jessica, now 10, was allowed home.
'I'm a different parent to the one I was,' I told her.
'Good,' she laughed. 'Because I'm a different daughter.'
It's true. Now 5ft and weighing 7st 9lb, Jessica has lost 21 stone. She expects to lose another stone and a half when she has an operation to remove the baggy, excess skin on her arms and legs.
Instead of fried chicken, we now eat fresh fruit and vegetables. We have skimmed milk and there are no biscuits or crisps in the cupboards. I've even managed to lose four stone myself. This is a new start for us both, and we're determined she'll stay healthy from now on.
If you're worried about your weight or your children's weight, log on to www.goodtoknow.co.uk.