Ian Gourlay’s wacky real life story about how he looked as if he were pregnant with twins, appears in TAKE A BREAK magazine this week.
When Ian’s story appeared in his local newspaper about how he looked as if he were about to give birth to twins, he was inundated with press enquiries to sell his story. He didn’t know where to turn but went to the right place – the internet! There, having inputted sell your story he arrived at this blog! From there he contacted me and I was able to deal with all the press attention and gain him a deal with Take a Break.
And certainly Ian’s story is something I’ve never come across before! Ian suffers from inherited kidney disease but it got worse and his kidneys swelled up so much that friends, workmates and even hospital staff joked he looked pregnant with twins. Soon, he could only waddle and constantly attracted jokes from people asking when his babies were due.
Eventually in pioneering surgery, both his kidneys were removed. And it was then hospital staff decorated the ward with ‘Congratulations on your twins’ banners and even sent him Congrats on having your twins cards.
Needless to say this story came with some great photos – including one of Ian looking very pregnant and balancing a drink on his bump at an aunt’s barbecue. But although his bump was a handy resting place for a paper and a cup of tea, and he now has to have regular dialysis, he is delighted to see it go. During the last few months of his ‘pregnancy’ he became a recluse, hating going out as he attracted looks from people wondering what on earth he had up his jumper.
After his story appeared with photos on the front cover of Take a Break, Ian said: “We had a laugh on dialysis about it and we did enjoy the piece! Thank you for handling the story.”
Do you have a quirky or wacky story to sell? If you have a humorous story to share with others in a newspaper or magazine, tell me about it here: Sell My Story
To read more recently sold stories, go to Archives