It’s all a bit quiet at this precise moment in the world of riskfactorphobia-inducing health news, so I thought I’d share something with you that you may not see in the newspapers (at least not in the UK ones).
It’s the story of 42-year-old Donna Simpson, a mother of two who lives in New Jersey. Donna has an unusual goal in life – to be the world’s heaviest woman. Already weighing more than 600lb (272kg), Donna’s aim is, get this, to weigh 1,000lb.
That’s some ambition, Donna.
Donna is already a bit of a celebrity in her home country, apparently, and has already appeared on TV. She even makes a few bob by modelling on a website called Supersized Bombshells – though when I had a quick peek just now, I couldn’t find her among the list of models. But according to a story I found about Donna on the Reuters Health website, users can pay to watch her eating greasy foods or walking to her car (wow, I wish someone would pay to watch me walk to my car… is it me, or has the world gone mad?)
Here are a few other facts about Donna. She wears size XXXXXL clothes and spends up to $750 a week on buying food (so obviously there’s money in letting people watch you walk to your car…). She’s also getting married later this year to the father of her youngest child, who apparently is crazy about her ‘curves’. But it’s not all fun for the plus-size record-chaser, as Donna suffers from type-2 diabetes and finds it difficult to carry out basic tasks – taking a shower, for instance.
There again she says she’s not bothered about the fact that being so heavy is affecting her health – she goes to her doctor every three months, she claims, so she’s healthy. If you say so Donna.
Well that puts my need-to-lose-half-a-stone anguish into perspective, that’s for sure.