Becky Willis was the envy of other women because of her super-flat stomach. The 22-year-old could eat piles of chocolate and junk-food without ever getting a bloated tum.
But while friends envied her waistline, Becky was hiding an embarrassing lifelong problem - a bizarre grumbling in her shoulder. Fiancé Gareth Wheeler, 26, had got used to hearing it whenever he hugged her - and jokingly dubbed it her "growling frog".
But what neither of them knew was Becky's stomach had developed in her right shoulder - along with her gall bladder, liver, bowel and colon. It was a potentially deadly condition called Morgagni diaphragmatic hernia, which affects one in 125,000 people.
And although it made her belly as flat as an ironing board, it meant her squashed-up organs were twisted - and could one day kill her. Bank worker Becky said: "I felt like a freak when I found out."
But after a life-saving six-hour operation, the size 14 brunette is now the proud owner of a little pot-belly.
Brenda Lane, of diaphragmatic hernia charity Cherubs UK, said: "It's quite rare to discover it later in life. It's more common in babies - and continues to have high mortality rates."
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