A daring Pinchbeck woman has fought back against society’s views with positivity, charity fundraising and teaching laughter yoga.
When Tess Clayton-Sanderson turned 49, she decided it was time to throw some thrills into her life and face a fear a year.
Six years and a disease diagnosis later, she has found herself preparing for the finals of the Miss Voluptuous UK competition in July.
“It’s not like an old-fashioned beauty pageant,” said Tess. “They’re looking for women who want to make a difference, as a role model for women and as a platform for a charity you support.”
Tess’s charity cause is Lipoedema UK and she uses her positive actions to inspire other women who suffer from the disease.
“It’s a chronic disease and mostly affects women,” Tess explained.
“Some people call it a ‘painful fat disease’. It usually starts with your legs but I’m quite a late stage so I have it in my hips, my bum, my upper arms and in my body because I’m stage four.
“The reason I’m doing all of this is to reach out to other ladies who have been disabled by lipoedema.
“Society isn’t very kind to fat people, they don’t really care why you’re fat. A lot of ladies when they get to my stage hide away and have mental health and emotional problems.
“I just wanted to go out there and say this is what I am. So I wanted to reach out to other ladies to say don’t hide away and don’t limit what you are doing just because society says all fat people are lazy. We’re just unlucky and that’s it.”
Tess started facing her fears before she was even diagnosed.
“I believed that I was doing something wrong but didn’t understand how I could be, as I was eating the right things and used to exercise a lot before I lost my mobility.”
Once she found out about lipodema, she pledged to get the word out.
Charity work aside, Tess’s journey to the stage started with another fear-facing exercise. Tess: “A couple of years ago
I saw an advert online for plus-size models as a competition to encourage plus-size women to model their clothes.
After some encouragement from her husband, Tess got the call and ended up breaking a world record.
“I got through and they didn’t just choose 10 women, they chose 100 and we broke the world record from the most number of plus-size models in one place,” she said. “Through that I met some really fantastic women.Everyone has been so helpful and just wants you to do your best.”
With this community spirit in mind Tess trained to be a certified laughter yoga leader last year. She is setting up a local club and will offer parent and children classes. The exercise and meditation elements are “so good for your mental health”, Tess said. She will also give free sessions at the lipoedema conference in June.
In aid of Lipoedema UK, Tess is holding a Spiritual and Craft fair at Pinchbeck Village Hall this Sunday, June 3 (11am-3.30pm).
Tess is looking for raffle prizes – to donate contact Tess at facebook.com/teresa.claytonsanderson
