The bullying was so bad for Haleigh that she had to drop out of school.
Tom York and his daughter share a special and close bond, so for many it was no surprise that the doting dad gifted his child $37,000 worth of plastic surgery.
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Haleigh York, 23, said she had battled her weight for as long as she could remember, saying she had tried every diet imaginable.
“I would lose and gain and then I would gain back more,” she told Inside Edition.
Recalling the days when she would drink six Mountain Dew sodas and eat cheeseburgers, Haleigh said was also the target of vicious high school bullies.
“I got so bad that I had to drop out of school. I thought I had passed the point of no return,” she said.
But then a friend underwent bariatric surgery and when Haleigh saw how great she looked, she decided it was the procedure for her.
Following the surgery that removed 80 percent of her stomach, Haleigh dropped half her weight.
“When she walks into a room, I’m still shocked by how great she looks," her father said.
After the surgery, she had a lot of excess skin remained, and no amount of exercise helped.
“I put in all the work, I wanted to be like the other girls,” she said.
Her father, who raised Haleigh on his own, stepped in.
“I just want her to be happy,” he told Inside Edition.
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Haleigh had 20 pounds of pounds of hanging skin removed and said she feels better than ever.
“He gifted me surgery to get rid of the skin I had, I got breast augmentation and a lower body lift," she said.
She calls it “the best gift ever.”
Watch: The Groundbreaking Surgery That Had This Fire Captain Throwing Out His Glasses
