Hearing the words ‘you should be dead’ by doctors was the moment Shayna Fernando knew she needed to make a change – and fast
Written by on April 28, 2023
Hearing the words ‘you should be dead’ by doctors was the moment Shayna Fernando knew she needed to make a change – and fast.
The high school teacher turned graphic designer had struggled with her weight for ‘as long as she can remember’, weighed 63kg when she was just nine years old.
‘My whole family was overweight and looking back what I thought was a ‘normal’ diet, wasn’t normal,’ Shayna, 34, from , told FEMAIL.
While she had lost 50kg eight years ago she gained it all back on and more after her younger sister, Jemma, tragically passed away from suicide at age 20.
Shayna Fernando struggled with weight all her life and tipped the scales at 150kg in 2019.The turning point was when she was 38 weeks pregnant with her second child and doctors found a blood clot stretching from her ankle to her belly button. She was told by doctors she should’ve died (pictured today)
While she had lost 50kg eight years ago she gained it all back on and more after her younger sister, Jemma, passed away from suicide at age 20 (pictured before losing weight)
At her heaviest Shayna weighed 150kg and managed to lose 50kg by following a 12-week program by trainer Michelle Bridges.But when she heard the devastating news about her sister she gained the weight back on quickly.
‘My sister and I were always together,’ Shayna said.Pictured: Shayna and her sister Jemma
‘My sister and I were always together, and I knew she was struggling mentally, but it came as a complete shock when I received a phone call from the hospital saying she had taken her own life,’ Shayna said.
‘From then everything changed; I kept busy and didn’t stop working until six months later when it all hit me.’
Throughout the difficult time, Shayna had the support of her husband, Andy, but she turned to food for comfort and felt ‘destroyed by grief’.
While she wanted to lose weight for her wedding she struggled to function daily and was eventually was unable to teach.
‘I ended up in hospital for my own mental health for two weeks, and it was really hard to go through knowing what my sister struggled with,’ she said.
After finding out her sister had passed away Shayna turned to food for comfort. ‘I ended up in hospital for my own mental health for two weeks, and it was really hard to go through knowing what my sister struggled with,’ she said
From then Shayna vowed to turn her life around, so she quit her job and went into graphic design, which started the healing process.
In 2017 she and Andy had their first born Oliver, now five, followed by their daughter Luna, now four, in 2019.
But during the second pregnancy at 38 weeks, Shayna had a life-threatening health scare she never saw coming.
‘I had a sore leg and only went the doctor because I thought it would impact me going into labor,’ Shayna said.
But what she thought was a minor injury turned out to be a blood clot in her leg that stretched from her ankle to her belly button.
This meant 40 per cent of her lungs were full of pulmonary embolisms, blocking airflow.
‘Andy raced me to the hospital who confirmed it was a blood clot then I was airlifted to The Mater Hospital in Brisbane.It was determined the blood clot had moved through my lungs, liver and legs,’ she said.
‘You’re lucky to be alive,’ a doctor told her, with physicians adding the clot was likely the result of her weight.
Shayna said she didn’t experience any other symptoms but likely put common tell-tale signs, such as breathlessness, down to being pregnant and overweight.
Their adorable baby girl was safely delivered naturally at 39 weeks without any complications.
It was a particularly harrowing time for Shayna who had seen her age mum suffer a heart attack from a blood clot at 25.She survived the ordeal.
In 2017 she and Andy had their first born Oliver, now five, followed by their daughter Luna, now four, in 2019.But during the second pregnancy at 38 weeks, Shayna had a life-threatening ordeal – doctors found a blood clot in her leg and she was airlifted to Brisbane hospital (pictured: in the helicopter)
‘I was terrified by the fact that I almost died, it really hit hard so I started to diet and knew I could lose the weight because I had done it before,’ Shayna said
‘I was terrified by the fact that I almost died, it really hit hard so I started to diet and knew I could lose the weight because I had done it before,’ Shayna said.
Having never stepped foot in a gym, she worked up the courage to visit Fernwood Fitness one day while Andy waited in the car.
‘I have phone anxiety from the trauma after my sister passed away, so I couldn’t just call them to ask about membership prices,’ she said.
‘I wore my brightest yellow dress and the staff were really lovely – I signed up that day but unfortunately the gym shut a week later due to Covid.
‘But I was so glad I signed up because it gave me something to look forward to.’
Beforehand her diet consisted of eating leftover spaghetti bolognese for breakfast, two sandwiches for lunch and ‘lots of rice and pasta’ for dinner.
Shayna signed up to Fernwood Fitness in 2020 but unfortunately the gym closed the following week due to Covid.But this didn’t stop her from working out at home. She lost 8kg in that time
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