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Half-ton man loses 258kg
29/06/2005 12:06 - (SA)
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| Clinically obese (Stuart Villanueva, AP/ Argus Leader) |
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Valentine - He still is a mound of a man, but his blue eyes widen with delight as he presses his chest with his fingertips, smiles mischievously and makes the grand announcement: He can FEEL his ribs.
To Patrick Deuel, this small moment is huge. Headline huge.
Man Can Feel Ribs — A First in 25 Years.
One year ago, Deuel weighed 482.4kg. He was so enormous his bedroom wall had to be cut out to extract him from his home. Then, he was rushed to a South Dakota hospital in an ambulance with extra-wide doors that had to be dispatched from Denver.
Deuel had not left his bedroom in seven months. He'd barely been outside in seven years. He couldn't sit up. He couldn't roll over by himself. He had heart trouble and diabetes.
Patrick Deuel was dying. A photo taken last June shows a pneumatic-like figure sprawled helplessly on his stomach looking like an inflated balloon.
A shadow of the man he used to be
Deuel now weighs 224.6kg. He said: "I look a little more like a human being."
Before he could walk or talk, he says, medical records defined him as obese. Obese people suffer because the health care system and insurance companies don't do enough to help them, he said.
"If I can lose weight, anybody can do this — and I mean ANYBODY," he says. "My willpower is basically zero."
Deuel, 43, was a fast-food junkie hooked on pizza, chips, beef jerky and chilli dogs.
While those days are over, Deuel doesn't exactly believe in total deprivation.
He exercises with bar bells and weights, but still smokes (he's cut down to a pack a day), saying he can't kick two bad habits at once. And he defiantly refuses to consider any foods taboo.
Still has a very healthy appetite
About twice a month, Deuel indulges in foods most dieters would consider off-limits: chocolate, ice cream and nachos.
Dr Fred Harris, the Sioux Falls surgeon who operated on Deuel last fall, said: "An occasional indiscretion is OK."
Practically speaking, Deuel can't eat as he once did as bariatric surgery reduced his stomach size. He can only eat limited portion of food - anything more, he may feel pain or vomit.
When Deuel loses more weight, Harris plans to remove his panniculus, an apron-like layer of abdominal fat.
Genes blamed for the problem
Harris says Deuel's weight problems are not simply from overeating but is convinced the basic, overlying for morbid obesity is genetic.
Deuel says his troubles began when he was three months old and was diagnosed as morbidly obese. (Some medical experts say there's no way to make that assessment so young.)
Neither of his parent were fat, though one of Deuel's grandfathers weighed more than 135kg.
Deuel can now move gingerly with two walkers.
He hopes to lose even more weight and become a motivational speaker.
- AP
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