CLEVELAND -- An Arizona woman weighed a staggering 430 pounds and she was given a death sentence by her doctors. To save her life, Tracy Hawkins lost 285, but her life remained in extreme danger.

She was left with pounds of skin and had to go through several agonizing and life-saving surgeries.

Reporter Kaley O'Kelly, of NewsChannel5's sister station in Phoenix, took us on an unbelievably dangerous journey with Hawkins.

"I could barely get to the elevator to the hotel room without wanting to die," Hawkins said.

Hawkins said she was being held hostage by her own body.

"I felt really like a prisoner -- that I had been trapped by my fat," she added. "I had letters from my doctors saying that if I didn't do something -- I weighed almost 430 pounds -- that I would be dead," Hawkins said.

Her weight was her death sentence, O'Kelly reported.

"I decided this is it. I have to make this change in my life," she said.

The change was so extreme it would help her drop 285 pounds, but there would be a consequence, O'Kelly reported.

"I was told by each of them that it was pointless. That I should just give up. There was no way they had never seen anything like it. It was such an extreme case," Hawkins said.

Hawkins' escape would not be easy.

"This is a challenge. This is probably the most extensive I've ever seen," one doctor said.

According to O'Kelly, two years ago Hawkins' life was a ticking time bomb.

Weight Sentence

"I'm getting to the point where it's do or die," she said.

Home video showed Hawkins at her heaviest. (See video)

"I weighed about 430 pounds. I was a beanbag chair with a head. That's the way I like to describe it," she said.

Hawkins admitted she wasn't the most active person, but the initial weight was caused by an illness, O'Kelly reported.

"Ten years ago, I got really, really sick and I had to take a lot of steroids, and I must have put on 80 to 100 pounds and then I was at the point of no return," she said.

Video

Skin Surgery SLIDESHOW:Weight Loss, Skin Surgery

Hawkin's doctor told her to lose weight or die, so she underwent gastric bypass surgery on Aug. 15, 2001.

Now, the Central High English teacher is 285 pounds lighter. The tiny 5-foot-3-inch woman is in shock at the damage done to her body.

"I didn't think I could lose all of the weight," she said. "I don't think anybody did, so I didn't take it all that seriously but then it became a real problem."

She had excess skin left behind from the weight loss, O'Kelly reported.

"To me, it seems so frivolous to do something like removal of skin. It's just upsetting to me that I got so fat that this is an issue now that I've gotten down to a normal size," she said.

She had almost 30 pounds of skin hanging from her body. At 145 pounds, Hawkins was struggling with the effects of being obese.

"I get rashes, like I said, I pinch myself a lot. It's embarrassing. I don't wear shorts or short sleeves," she said.

She has become obsessed with working out, but the damage is irreversible without surgery, O'Kelly reported.

"If there is something that can be done, I think it's worth the risk to do it,' she said.

She has to undergo drastic surgery -- a full body lift. Hawkins went to doctor after doctor, but no one wanted to perform the procedure. The amount of skin removal had never been done before.

"This is probably the most extensive amount of skin that I've ever seen. I haven't. This is by far the largest that I've ever seen," said Scottsdale plastic surgeon Dr. Sean Lillie.

It's not as easy as just removing skin. The surgery is complicated and if not done properly the skin can actually die off.

"It's going to be a long process. As a result, it's going to be a staged process so we can tackle as much of this as we can," Lillie said.

Hawkins underwent at least four life-threatening surgeries over six months to remove all the skin.

"Because this is such extensive surgery, we got to make sure what we do is safe," Lillie said.

Once in the operating room, Lillie freed Hawkins of the skin on her stomach, which was 7 pounds.

Then, he moved to the outer thigh area. This area was more risky because of the amount of veins and arteries in the area.

A dissector was used to separate the skin from the underlying issue.

"If we didn't do this, she would have more reoccurrence of her baggy skin," he said.

In all, the first operation removed 14 pounds of skin.

Three weeks after the surgery, Hawkins was back in front of her English class.

"I know it's confusing, but I can't keep writing it on the board because frankly I'm in pain," she told her class.

Her Body

Hawkins is shocked by the difference.

"The stomach just blows me away, I mean, I look and say is that my stomach it just wow that flat thing is my stomach," she said.

But it's only the beginning. On Oct. 10, she was back at the hospital. It was time to get rid of the skin under her arms.

"We don't have liposuction to do, so it's basically excising all of the skin and bringing it up," Lillie said.

The surgery will allow Hawkins to finally throw out her long-sleeved shirts.

In order to reach the skin, Lillie suspends Hawkin's arms.

An hour later, the results were apparent.

When the bandages came off six days later, Hawkins was amazed.

"Excellent, good and you've got some swelling here and some more over here and that is going to smooth out over time, but wow that's a pretty big difference," Lillie said.

"I love it," she responded.

Although Hawkins will have a scar, she was very pleased.

Hawkin's two surgeries have given her results she could only dream of. The before-and-after pictures show a much flatter, smoother stomach. And the arms that were once hidden by clothes can now be in the open without embarrassment.

"I didn't realize I had so much willpower and character. I didn't know I had it in me to make life changes. It has been life changing," Hawkins said.

Hawkins said she was imprisoned by her fat, but is almost free.

I went from a work-release program losing the weight and now I'm kind of on parole, and my hope is to one day be on a full parole, but I'll never be pardoned," she said.