ABC

Charity Pierce

Charity Pierce, 38, needs to lose 20 stone so she can have a life saving gastric bypass operation before she can marry 22-year-old partner Tony Saur.

She has already reduced her daily calorie intake from 10,000 to 1,200 as she hopes to have a cowboy themed wedding of her dreams. Ms. Pierce said: "I'm determined not to have to get married at home - I want to be able to walk up the aisle. "We both love country music so I plan to wear a wedding dress, cowboy boots and cowgirl hat and Tony will be in jeans and cowboy boots.

"I want a big area, lots of people there and I want to dance all night and have the best honeymoon ever." Doctors have already warned Ms Pierce, who has been housebound since 2001, that without drastic measures to reduce her weight her life is in danger. Ms Pierce, who lives in Cedar Rapids in Iowa, USA, said she is worried about dying in her sleep and her dream is lose an incredible 40 stone.

She said: "I'm worried about having a heart attack or a stroke and dying in my sleep. "My dream goal is to be 14 stone and get married to my fiancé. "I don't want much - I just want to have a life." Ms Pierce, who weighed almost 20 stone when she was 13, ate to comfort herself as she grew up with an alcoholic father and was teased at school.

Her diet when she was younger used to consist of cake for breakfast, fast food for lunch, stew for dinner and ice cream and cakes before bed. She said: "I had an unhappy family life as a child and eating was the only thing I had any control over - I used to sneak junk food into the house and hide the wrappers.

"My weight rose steadily and I was teased at school. I chose to pretend it wasn't happening. "In 2002 she was diagnosed with lymphedema, a condition which causes fluid retention, and over the years the build up in her left leg has made her immobile.

In 2005 she also developed necrotising fasciitis - a flesh eating bacteria - and had two-and-a-half stone of tissue removed from her side.

She is cared for at home by her 18-year-old daughter Charly and her boyfriend Mr Saur. Ms Pierce said: "Being homebound is the worst thing in the world because it means you have no life.