OPERATION Transformation star Marie Clear has revealed her new baby and said: “He is my world”.
The Cashel woman was born with achondroplasia, a genetic condition that can lead to stunted limb growth.
She gave birth to little boy at Cork University Maternity Hospital last February. However, it was only late on Mother’s Day that she decided to share a picture of herself and son Jack to the world.
Marie, 35, said: “I can’t describe the love I feel for my little Jack. He is my world.
“I am sharing my handsome little boy for the first time to everyone as he is just perfect.
“It has been a rough road for recovery on my side after my c section and I am slowly getting there all thanks to the amazing people in my life.
“Sometimes us women are so hard on ourselves including me I have to keep reminding myself I only had a baby six weeks ago and Rome wasn’t built in a day. So all I want to say to all the mothers out there, be kinder to yourself”.
The Cork woman became a national figure in January 2023 when she signed up for Operation Transformation with the dream of having a baby.
Back then Marie was living at home with her mum in Cashel and working part time as a Special Needs Assistant with children with disabilities.
However she then went on “an amazing journey with Operation Transformation” eventually gaining weight again for “for all the right reasons”.
Marie, revealed how as a young girl she once visited Cork University Hospital to find if anyone with achondroplasia had ever had children.
She was thrilled to find out it was possible but felt she needed to be healthier to conceive.
She said: “My weight would have got in the way; I would have struggled to carry a baby and my back would have struggled.
“I suppose the weight that I had on wouldn’t have been healthy, and to be pregnant with that weight as well, and for my height, wouldn’t have been good for my back or legs. So I knew I had to get healthy to have any chance”.
However she revealed how she feared time was running out after she completed Operation Transformation.
Speaking to The Irish Sun last year, she told us: “I am 35 in February and time was moving on. I often talked about becoming a mother but inside I feared if this could really happen.
SHARING THE NEWS
“I had really started getting doubtful. But my mother always believed and told me ‘Marie, one day you will have your own child. It’s happened”.
Marie also revealed to us how she broke the news of her pregnancy to her close pal, Operation Transformation’s former presenter Kathryn Thomas, now hosting The Morning Show on Q102.
“When I rang Kathryn to tell her I was pregnant, she nearly had a heart attack. All I could hear was Kathryn screaming. I couldn’t understand what she was saying for a minute or two. She was just so excited for me.
“Kathryn and everyone who saw me on Operation Transformation. This was all I ever wanted. This is a miracle baby for me because my dreams have finally come through.”
