Testimonial
HOW I SAVED MY OWN LIFE
After spending my entire adult life under the enormous strain of obesity, and after trying every know diet in the world, I had just about given up on the dream of being able to gain control of my out-of-control mass and girth.

At age 49, my wife and I adopted our first of two daughters from China and those adoptions changed my life. I spent a great deal of time worrying about whether or not I would live to see them grow up. Because I was an older daddy and weighed over 350 pounds, I, like all other morbidly obese people, had many life-threatening (if allowed to accelerate) diseases; diabetes, sleep apnea, edema, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc.

It was because of my children that I became interested in gastric by-pass surgery. I had a church brother who had been a patient of Dr. Husted for a Fobi Pouch. I watched his progress and he encouraged me to attend a seminar, which I eventually did.

To make a long story short, I finally got approved by my insurance. My surgery was planned for July and I really experienced a degree of dread and anxiousness. I wanted it done, but I was scared. One day I got a call from Dr. Husted's office and they had moved my surgery up to May, just about a week away and I didn't have time to worry about it. It was here! What a blessing.

It has been a long road, I must be truthful. But would I do it again? Absolutely. Has it been successful? Absolutely. Today, Sept. 1, 2004, just over two years after the surgery, I have gone from my top weight of 375 to 225. That weight loss includes some skin and liposuction from my tummy tuck/hernia surgery. At 6-3, 225, I look extremely thin, even with my surgery binder still on. Pounds are not the only measurement: I lost 10 suit sizes, 18 inches around the waist, 5.5 around the neck.

But mere looks is not the real improvement. I can now work 10 hours, come home play with the girls, help with their homework, see them to bed, watch the news, read the paper, and get a good night's sleep without being exhausted, or going to sleep the minute I got still in a chair.

My energy level is amazing. I have purchased a 10-speed bicycle and ride with my girls. At 54, I am the daddy of two 6-year-olds and I can keep up with them (nearly).

This surgery is not easy. The follow up tummy tuck (despite what they say on Extreme Makeover), is not easy. Getting your body back in shape after 35 sedentary years is not easy. Life is not easy, but it sure is a lot more exciting today than it was the week before I met Dr. Husted.

From the beginning I have taken this stand concerning the surgery. It may not be for everybody. --you have to "really" want it for yourself. I always told myself that I could do it because hundreds of others had done it. But you have to "want" it. I try my best to be an advocate of the surgery to those people who I care for because I know what it did for me and for my wife and children. There's no doubt in my mind that it added 10 years to my life.

This is intended to be a testimonial and not my life story. Yes! This procedure is often life-saving, life-altering and certainly will improve the quality of your life, but not overnight. It took me two whole years to totally regain my pre-surgery lifestyle. For others, it happens sooner. No two people are alike.

I am in the debt of the Cumberland Center for Obesity Surgery and Dr. Husted and his caring staff. I can live nearly anonymously. My own mother wouldn't know me if she hadn't witnessed the transformation. I am overlooked at family reunions and ballgames. Unless people, who have not seen me in a couple of years, hear my voice or see my eyes up close, they say they don't recognize me.

I want to close by saying I could not have taken the first step without the love and support of my wife, Natalie. She was like a live-in nurse and she encouraged me through every bump and hurdle. And of course, without the love of God, none of this would have ever happened.