Aspiring Model's Rare Condition Makes Her Leg Swell With 3 Litres Of Excess Fluid

An aspiring model has bared her leg for the first time in ten years after a rare condition led to it ballooning in size. Meagan Barnard’s lymphedema left her feeling suicidal and alone after she refused to talk with her family and friends about it. She hid her leg under baggy clothes and refused to wear a dress or a skirt for more than a decade when her school friends called her the Michelin Man and other cruel nicknames.

Amazingly Meagan even managed to hide the condition from her boyfriend of two years, Robert Neidenfeuhr, 27. Despite her insecurities Meagan has decided to go public about the condition in the hope that other young girls do not suffer in silence like she did.

Meagan’s condition began in puberty when her lymph nodes did not grow large enough to process fluid, which then remained trapped in her leg. The result was extreme swelling in her right leg with up to three liters of excess fluid being stored at any one time. She just woke up one morning with her foot swollen, but she didn’t feel any pain so she just brushed it off.

Doctors have told her that it might have been caused by some injury or lack of development of the lymph nodes. Health insurance companies in the USA have denied her the treatment she needs, since they consider her condition to be cosmetic. This is why the aspiring model has decided to self fund the procedure with the help of her friends and family.

Videographer / director: Ruaridh Connellan
Producer: Dan Howlett, Nick Johnson
Editor: Kyle Waters, Ian Phillips