Tanya Mimpress, 46, is an artist and lives in Shoeburyness, Essex, with husband Brian, 48, a warehouse manager, and children Lily, 22, Eleanor, 18, Elizabeth, 15, and Eli, 10.

“As I writhed on my hospital bed with agonising cramps, the doctor explained I was at risk of heart failure.

3 Tanya Mimpress switched to a vegan diet in August 2017, by February 2018 she was diagnosed as severely anaemic and experiencing crippling pain

The team didn’t know what was causing it, but if I hadn’t come to hospital, I could have died.

As I was given a life-saving blood transfusion, I couldn’t stop panicking – I led a healthy vegan lifestyle, so what was wrong with me?

I’d decided to go vegetarian in 2014 after watching a documentary about the way animals were treated.

I didn’t eat much red meat, although I liked chicken and fish, but from then on I vowed to go veggie and stocked my kitchen with salads, pulses, legumes and cheese.

My skin glowed, my eyes sparkled and I looked 10 years younger. Tanya Mimpress

I felt brilliant after that, with plenty of energy. But it always niggled that I was still eating dairy, so in August 2017 I went vegan.

I knew it would be hard, as I loved cheese and chocolate, but I was determined. I ditched butter and switched to soya milk, while the rest of the family – except my daughter Elizabeth, then 12 – stuck to eating meat and dairy.

I began to feel even better. My skin glowed, my eyes sparkled and I looked 10 years younger.

I also lost over 4st, going from 15st 7lb to 11st 3lb and from a size 22 to a 14 in six months. My asthma improved so much that I didn’t need to use my inhalers any more.

3 Tanya lost over 4st during the first six months of her vegan diet, going from a size 22 to a 14

But over the next six months I began feeling tired and my hair started thinning. A blood test in February 2018 showed I was severely anaemic.

Iron supplements make me constipated, so my doctor advised iron-rich food and I began eating leafy green veg every day.

But within 48 hours I was doubled over in pain with bloody diarrhoea. I rushed to A&E, where they said I had symptoms of bowel or ovarian cancer, and sent me for a scan – but nothing showed up.

My consultant suggested keeping a food diary to see if anything was triggering it.

I didn’t tell my family as I didn’t want to worry them. Tanya Mimpress

The pain continued though, and I couldn’t leave the house as I’d need the toilet every half an hour. Over the months, my hair dulled, my skin grew sallow and I was breathless.

Not wanting to bother my GP, I told myself I needed more vitamins, so I’d pile my plate with green veg and chickpeas washed down with soya milk tea.

But I was still going to the toilet so much it was agony to sit down. I felt dizzy when I stood up and my heart would gallop.

I didn’t tell my family as I didn’t want to worry them, but after fainting in a shop in May this year, I dragged myself to the GP for more blood tests.

3 Tanya had become so severely anaemic her organs weren’t getting enough blood and were at risk of shutting down

By then, I’d eliminated so many foods from my diet, I was living on mash and soya milk tea. Two days later, the doctor phoned to tell me to go to hospital urgently.

I was so severely anaemic, my organs weren’t getting enough blood and were at risk of shutting down. It was at the hospital that I had my life-saving blood transfusions as well as an iron transfusion.

I mentioned my food diary, but doctors were too busy monitoring my vital signs to pay it attention.

I was given tests, including a colonoscopy, CT scan, biopsies of my intestines and analysis of my stools, which showed my intestines were severely inflamed.

My body couldn’t cope. Tanya Mimpress

One week later, a doctor looked at my food diary and suspected I was allergic to soya, which is in lots of vegan food.

After eliminating and reintroducing it to my diet, we realised I was severely intolerant and it was making my intestines bleed, which had caused the clots and upset stomach. I’d probably always been allergic, but hadn’t really eaten much of it before I became vegan and soya formed most of my diet.

My body couldn’t cope – I wasn’t getting enough iron, and both problems combined to leave me so anaemic, I was admitted to hospital on the verge of organ failure.

MOST READ IN FABULOUS BRUSH UP DIY fanatic shows how to get neat wall edges in seconds WITHOUT using masking tape COSY COLLECTION Sainsbury's launches cosy line of loungewear & dresses priced from £3.50 SUPER SPREE Britain’s biggest family the Radfords show off Zara clothes haul for 22 kids HOUSE ABOUT THAT Single mum returns from hols to find parents transformed her flat for £50 RUFF DEAL Neighbour demands mum only lets kid out for 15mins a day as he upsets the dogs PEG PRICE Mum asks how much the Tooth Fairy gives kids & gets some ‘obscene’ amounts

A doctor told me to start eating meat immediately. The thought of it was revolting, but my family begged me and I knew it was the only way to get better.

So in May, I sat at the dining table with a steak in front of me and cried as I ate it. I’ve eaten steak most days since, and doctors have worked out I’m intolerant to kidney beans, chickpeas and green beans – the main foods I’d been living on as a vegan.

I’m slowly recovering. I’m not as tired and have stopped feeling faint as the iron I’m getting from meat is more easily absorbed than from veg. I don’t want to eat meat, but I don’t have a choice, and I need to be around for my family.”

Former vegan who now follows the Carnivore Diet reveals her two-year-old also eats raw brains and liver for dinner