A woman has revealed how she was left in tears after doctors told her skin removal surgery would cost $100,000 – luckily, a 4,500-mile trip to Thailand saved her.
Codie McGovern had embarked on an incredible weight-loss journey that saw her drop from a whopping 374lbs to a trim 187lbs.
Despite being incredibly proud of her transformation, the 30-year-old was left with a mass of excess skin – that ruined her confidence and even stopped her sleeping.
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The project manager was dealing with a jaw-dropping 26lbs of excess skin, which doctors told her would cost a heart shattering $100,000 to remove.
“I sat in my car and cried,” Codie told Need To Know.
“Excess skin started impacting everything – training, comfort, sleep, and confidence.
“After everything I’d done, it felt impossible.”
Codie’s huge weight loss journey started when she didn’t recognise herself after leaving a long term relationship.
When her weight ballooned to 170kg, she decided to make a drastic change – hitting the gym hard and rebuilding her relationship with food.
She said: “I still remember not being able to finish a class and crying in the bathroom – it wasn’t linear.
“I didn’t want to enter my 30s still consumed by my weight.”
In 2021, Codie had gastric sleeve surgery and spent the next three years building healthy habits through intense training and a strict diet.
By 2025, she was in the best shape she had ever been in – weighing 85kg and completing triathlons.
However, the cloud of her excess skin hung over her head.
Codie said: “The excess skin impacted every part of my life – movement, training, clothing, comfort, sleep, and confidence.
“Skin removal wasn’t just about aesthetics – it was about being able to fully live in the body I’d worked so hard for.”
For months, Codie, from Brisbane, Australia, searched high and low for other options, from public, private, not-for-profit programs to overseas surgery.
The outcome looked bleak with the process becoming extremely “overwhelming” for her.
In hopes of reaching the right people and inspiring others in her position, Codie started documenting her story online under the title ‘The Weight of Becoming’.
In 2025, a Thailand-based provider reached out to her to explain the steps of her first surgery.
The total cost of the trip, including flying herself and her fiancé Zach, 31, over there and the surgery, was just $28,000.
She said: “It was confusing, overwhelming, and completely fragmented.
“That’s when I started documenting my journey online through The Weight of Becoming to help others navigate it.
“Eventually, a Thailand-based provider reached out to me and decided to undergo my first stage of surgery – breasts, back, arms, and sides – while documenting everything transparently.”
Hailing the support of Zach, she added: “He never judged me, never questioned me – just supported me because he knew how important it was to me.”
On 11 Mar, Codie had her first surgery and is now taking on the challenging but rewarding recovery process.
Five weeks later, she claims she can already “see” and “feel” the difference.
Codie said: “I didn’t recognise myself. I felt like a shell – no confidence, no energy, no passion.
“During the weight loss, I slowly rebuilt that.
“After losing the weight, I felt closer to who I was meant to be – but the excess skin still held me back physically and mentally.
“Now, halfway through skin removal, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“By the end of 2026, I hope to fully step into the confident, strong, athletic person I’ve been working towards becoming.”
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