World's fattest woman vows to slim down from 765lb so she can 'dance all night' at her wedding... but needs $5,000 to travel to the only hospital willing to give her a gastric band

Charity Pierce has lymphedema which has caused her leg to swell, and had to have 40lb lump cut off after being attacked by flesh-eating bacteria

38-year-old single mom wants to lose weight for her dream wedding to 22-year-old boyfriend



Doctors in Iowa won't operate unless she is 500lb so Pierce is trying to get to a Houston hospital for life-saving operation

Mom hopes to appear on My 600lb Life after surgery to get more help



An Iowa mother who weighs 765lb is trying to get on a reality TV show because she believes it is the only way to save her life.



Charity Pierce finds moving around so difficult that she is almost house bound, but doctors near her Cedar Rapids home say she must slim down to 500lb before they can give her a gastric band.

The 38-year-old has been shortlisted to appear on TLC's My 600lb Life and a hospital in Houston is willing to operate, but only if she can get to Texas for an appointment by the end of April.

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Help: Charity Pierce weighs 765lb and has a condition that caused her left leg to swell to huge proportions

In love: Charity wants to slim down for her cowboy-themed wedding to 22-year-old Tony Sauer, right

Charity as a young child, left, and now, right. The 38-year-old mother-of-one weighs a staggering 56 stone

Ms Pierce says she has always been on the larger size, but her weight problem became worse after developing lymphedema, which blocks the lymphatic system and causes swelling

Because Ms Pierce, who is the fattest woman in the world, has developed a medical condition called lymphedema, which has caused a huge swelling on her left leg, she no longer fits easily into a regular car.



To make the 1,000 mile trip to Texas the single mother would need to hire a private ambulance, and she is currently trying to raise $5,000 to pay for it.



'A doctor in Texas willing to do patients over 600lb [is] my only hope,' she wrote on her Go Fund Me page, which is still a few thousand dollars below her target.



'The one thing that's going to save my life is gastric bypass. But I'm a single mother on disability with no one to count on besides myself,' she added.

She hopes to be able to lose enough weight to be able to watch her daughter grow up, and also so she can have a dream wedding to her 22-year-old boyfriend, Tony Sauer.

'I'm determined not to have to get married at home. I want to be able to walk up the aisle,' Ms Pierce told Best magazine.



'I plan to wear a wedding dress, cowboy boots and a cowgirl hat ... I want to dance all night.'



Determined: Charity has physical therapy to try to control her weight, but is in desperate need of a gastric band

Painful: Single mom Charity has been left almost entirely housebound because her weight and leg problems make it difficult to move Reason for living: The chance to see daughter Charly, left, grow up is the driving force for Charity, centre. Charity's fiance, Tony, right

Ms Pierce says she has always been on the larger size, but her weight problem became worse after developing lymphedema, which blocks the lymphatic system and causes swelling.

' The lymphedema feels like another whole person. It feels like cinder blocks hanging off you all the time,' Ms Pierce told ABC9.

The swelling that protrudes out the side of her leg makes exercise and walking difficult and has made her almost entirely house bound as she struggles to fit inside cars.



She first turned to TV show doctors for help in 2012, when she released a video on YouTube pleading for someone to get her case to Dr Phil.



She explained that she developed lymphedema in 2001 after falling down a flight of stairs, and then had to fight off Necrotizing Facitis, the flesh eating bacteria, in her abdomen.



'They had to cut out 40lb of dead muscle and tissue. My left side looks as though a shark took a big bite out of it,' Ms Pierce said.

The single mom said she is determined to lose weight so she can live to see her daughter, Charly, graduate and get married.



Worried: Daughter Charly, left, believes her mom won't have long to live if she can't get a gastric band

Long road ahead: Charity is trying to raise money to pay for an ambulance to take her to a hospital 1,000 miles away, which is willing to help her

' I'm not going to make it if I don't have a gastric bypass,' she said.



Charly added: ' She's doing really well about trying to keep her mobility, but I feel like if she doesn't get help soon that's not going to be an option. She's just not going to last much longer.'

Ms Pierce is trying to lose weight and is on a limited 1,200-calorie a day diet and does physical therapy twice a day.

She hopes that if the consultant in Texas agrees to fit a gastric band she will be able to appear on My 600lb Life and receive further help in getting back in shape.



'It's a very long road, but I'm going to get there,' Ms Pierce said.

