She Was Too Heavy for the Rescue Helicopter —18 Months Later, No One Recognizes Her (2 of 3)

Amanda weighed nearly 400 pounds. The rescue helicopter couldn’t safely hoist her. The team was forced to call in a second crew—with a reinforced harness—while Amanda lay on the ground for nearly four more hours in pain and humiliation.

“I wasn’t angry. I was ashamed,” she says quietly. “I was lying in the dirt, injured, while people tried to figure out how to physically get me out. I felt like cargo.”

The story made its way into local headlines. A few outlets mentioned the “logistical difficulties” of the rescue. Amanda saw the comments online—some cruel, some mocking, some worse.

But something in her shifted.

“I cried for three days,” she admits. “And then I got up. I wasn’t going to let that be my story.”

What followed was not a crash diet or a flashy weight-loss program. It was a long, grueling, deeply personal fight.

“I started by walking to my mailbox,” she says. “That was all I could do. But I did it every single day.”

Amanda overhauled her eating habits—not with a trendy cleanse, but with portion control, patience, and persistence. She met with a physical therapist to slowly rebuild strength in her ankle, and later, a trainer who worked with her in the quiet hours of early morning when the gym was still empty.

“Some days I wanted to give up,” she says. “But I’d remember the helicopter. I’d remember lying on that mountain.”

Eighteen months later, Amanda has lost 90 kilograms—nearly 200 pounds. Her face is radiant, her body transformed, and her posture tells the rest: this is a woman who rewrote her story.

The before and after photos speak volumes. In one, Amanda stands, her eyes tired, her body hunched forward. She takes a selfie with satisfaction, despite the fact that her body is still far from perfect