Matt Haig, pictured right with his children and his wife Andrea, and inset, first contemplated suicide when he was 24. He credits his wife Andrea with saving his life through love. He's written a book about his experiences with depression and anxiety. Even 14 years after his lowest point, he can still feel the shadow of mental illness - but he wouldn't change any of it because he likes the sheer, unfathomable marvel that is this strange life we have.

Gemma Walker, 22, from the Gold Coast, was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia aged 14. She weighed little over four stone (main image) and was told by doctors that she would die without treatment. Her father, Steve, said he was terrified his daughter would die and would check on her every morning to make sure she was still breathing. Miss Walker, who has now recovered (pictured inset) and set up her own skin care and cosmetics company, has shared her shocking photographs to inspire other people with eating disorders. She said: 'I am the happiest I've ever been now, it's such an amazing, surreal feeling. I do believe that I have fully recovered and that my anorexia is now just a huge chapter that has closed.'

For a woman, losing hair due to illness or chemotherapy can feel like losing one's femininity, or what makes them pretty - which is why most opt to wear wigs to cover their baldness. But one Nebraska-based henna tattoo artist is helping women go wig-free - and still feel like a million bucks - by donating free head tattoos. Hollie Urbauer, 39, paints the intricate designs - or crowns - on the heads of women suffering from hair loss, giving them a major confidence boost when they look in the mirror. Most recently, she created a design for 16-year-old Ava Gagner, who suffers from alopecia

Sophie Winter, 20, from Bedford, a student at Portsmouth University, turned her life around after joining military and fitness retreat No 1 Boot Camp in Norfolk, where she started each morning with a 7am wake-up call and did 45 minutes of cardio exercise before breakfast (inset). Sophie left her 15st, size 16 figure (left) behind and now weighs 11st and is a slim size eight to ten (centre and right).

The pair feature in Too Ugly for Love, which airs tonight on TLC. It follows the story of 12 singletons with an illness or defect bravely agree to be filmed as they try to find romance. The series shows how their condition affects their daily life, and the difficulty of opening up about something they perceive to be embarrassing or personal. Viewers meet Matt, 40, a bodybuilder from Leeds with a stoma bag (right and inset). He finds dating extremely daunting and wants to meet an understanding woman to support him through his illness - and who is not bothered by the fact he can't drink alcohol. Then 29-year-old Chloe, a beautician with alopecia (top and bottom left). She says she never hears from men again after they discover she is bald. She said: 'No matter if it's the second or fourth date whenever I've told them, I've never heard from them again. My alopecia makes me feel less female, less attractive, less desirable. It has shattered my confidence.'

On Wednesday night's episode of TLC reality series My 600lb Life, Brittani Fulfer, 32, admits that she thinks about food 'nonstop' - even though she can barely clean herself because of how large she has gotten. However, after she loses 63lbs in four months following weight loss surgery, her mother reveals that Brittani fears having surgery was the wrong decision.

Her diet can see her eat up to 15 bananas (inset) and 40 pieces of fruit a day, but controversial YouTube and social media star Freelee The Banana Girl (left, right) said her extreme diet will change your life. The Adelaide resident has released her own 30-day cleanse as part of her new e-book, the Raw Till 4 Diet Banana Girl Cleanse. The diet and lifestyle book is based off her own extreme diet and exercise habits and is said to help you lose weight, aid with digestion, clear your skin and help with a number of health problems.

Vicki Lord, 66, initially put her weight gain down to eating too much. But when she gained more than two stone in two months (right), she went to a local doctor in Essex. She said: 'My friends and family had all noticed my stomach poking out of my clothes, it was really embarrassing. I knew people must have been thinking how can a woman of my age be carrying a baby and I was humiliated by it.' Surgery revealed it was a massive ovarian cyst (inset) which was not cancerous but had been crushing her internal organs. Now the grandmother is recovering well following the procedure (left). 'When I was shown a picture of surgeons holding the massive cyst I was really horrified because it looked like a baby. It was really disgusting,' she said.

The 20-year-old supermodel opened up in October about the bad skin she had as a young teen, which made her so self-conscious that she would cover her face when she talked. The woman who helped clear it up, Beverly Hills dermatologist Dr. Christie Kidd, has been sharing tips on Kendall and Kylie's apps. She said in a new video that using anything abrasive on the face - like a rotating brush, washcloth, or scrub - can make acne worse. Though Kylie, 18, said she never had bad skin, she also uses Dr. Kidd's products.

On Wednesday night's episode of TLC reality series My 600lb Life, Brittani Fulfer, 32, admits that she thinks about food 'nonstop' - even though she can barely clean herself because of how large she has gotten. However, after she loses 63lbs in four months following weight loss surgery, her mother reveals that Brittani fears having surgery was the wrong decision.

With a combined weight of 52 stone at their heaviest, Noel and Leisa Hoey, from Dublin, were so big they couldn't sit beside each other at the cinema or on an aeroplane - and broke their bed frame four times with their bulk. But after being embarrassed by their unflattering marriage snaps, Noel, 35, has lost 16 stone. Leisa, 33, lost eight stone and dropped six dress sizes after squeezing her massive bulk into a size 26 gown for their big day.

Hospitals around the world are allowing doctors to train for both normal deliveries and life-threatening complications on birthing simulators - full-body, interactive, anatomical dolls that undergo mechanical birth. These simulators contain delivery mechanisms, realistic female body parts and speakers in the abdomen that emit a fetal heartbeat, giving doctors the full delivery room experience. Doctors and hospitals alike know it is vital to receive hands-on training for delivery complications, such as postpartum hemorrhage or umbilical cord prolapse. Simulators allow them to get the necessary training without risking lives by 'practicing' on actual people in the midst of real-life emergencies. Pictured, gynecologist Katja Bartz demonstrates the birth of a child on a female doll in the training center of the Greifswald University Hospital in Germany.

Cara Ward, from London, had been using the steroid-based medication to treat her eczema since childhood. When she stopped, she developed Red Skin Syndrome, which causes severe and painful flaking of the skin (left, top and bottom middle). The aspiring author documented her condition, which prevented her from leaving the house because it was painful to wear clothes and people stared at her. Two years later (right) she is thrilled her skin has finally cleared up. 'When I look in the mirror it's such a shock I finally have clear skin, it's never looked this good in my entire life,' she said.

Jenna Smith, from Cumbria, developed a large tumour on her neck while she was still in the womb. A tracheotomy was carried out during the caesarean while her umbilical cord was still attached to allow her to breathe (left). It was removed months later and tests revealed it was cancerous. She had several months of chemotherapy before being given the all clear. But the tumour had crushed her windpipe, damaging her vocal cords so she has been unable to speak. Now 21 months, she uses sign language to communicate with her parents (right) and was able to say 'I love you daddy'.

The 43-year-old maintained that her eating habits are often misreported and she doesn't say 'no to anything'. However, her new 2016 detox plan, which debuted on her lifestyle website Goop earlier this month, bans red meat, dairy, gluten, and caffeine, among other things.

'I was having a plastic tube gently pushed up my nose and into my stomach by a consultant gastroenterologist, Dr Ray Shidrawi, at his clinic in Harley Street. It was part of a procedure called the KEN (Ketogenic Enteral Nutrition) diet and I arrived at the KEN Clinic hating everything about this idea,' writes Dr Alexander van Tulleken.

From bacon causing cancer to the the baby born inside his amniotic sac (top right), there was no shortage of astonishing health stories in the last year. Blood-soaked Jonas Acevedo Monroy was nicknamed 'The Gentleman' because of his good manners when he walked into a hospital in Mexico with scissors sticking out of his head (top left). A doctor was astonished when he found nearly 12,000 gall stones in a patient in India (bottom left) and Will Osgerby, from Hull, (bottom right) put his miraculous recovery from a coma down to his wife's nagging. Here we revisit the top 20 which made the headlines.

Chloe Hopkins, 19 of Manchester, has cystic fibrosis and her health is deteriorating. The illness leaves the 19-year-old feeling like she is 'trapped in an 80-year-old's body', as she is constantly in hospital with infections, or receiving treatments (left and inset). She has been told she desperately needs a double lung transplant to prolong her life, and will not live for longer than two years. Determined to make the most of what could be the last few months with her family, she has written a bucket list of things to 'tick off' before she dies. These include meeting Manchester United football team, visiting London for the day and getting her hair done at a top hairdressers. She hopes the activities will distract her as her health slowly deteriorates and her life slips away. She said: 'I just hope the call for the transplant comes sooner rather than later. If I become any more poorly, it may be too late for them to even consider me. But in the meantime, I am going to distract myself by ticking off the items on my bucket list, one by one. I am determined to live whilst I am still here, and still alive.'

Matt Hoather, 25, worked out intensely for 12 weeks and went from 22% body fat to just 5.3% by changing his diet and eating steak for breakfast. He was untoned previously (left) and gained weight from eating more processed foods after he moved from his home in Winsford, Cheshire, to London for a new job. However he has transformed his body after working out three times a week for three months and now has a six pack (right).

Glenn Williams, 67, from Leicester, developed the hernia following complications from bowel cancer surgery (left and inset). Doctors said it was the biggest they had seen and initially believed it was inoperable. A video shows Mr Williams lying on a hospital trolley, with the hernia appearing flat (top right). He is then asked to cough, which makes the growth inflate to the size of a football (bottom right). Mr Williams was given pioneering treatment which involved splitting the muscle layers of his abdomen and moving them over each other.
He said his life had been transformed. 'I am over the moon, having a normal body not having people stare at me is just amazing,' he said.