New Patient Story

During the month of April of 2021 I saw the movie "The Way" about a father trying to connect to the memory of his child during a walk from France to Spain to the church of St. James. My life was spiraling out of control and I had the idea that perhaps doing something like that with my father could begin to help me recover. So I set things in motion and by June we did go to Spain to do the walk, however just two days before the trip my brother got sick with COVID. We decided to still go and the walk lasted about 24 days from beginning to end. the day we got to the Cathedral of St. James I placed a candle of prayer for my brother whom was still battling COVID at the hospital, but he was in critical condition. that day I felt a huge rush of emotions and I was really worried about his condition, yet we were also so excited and relieved we had accomplished the goal of walking 375 miles across the Spanish country side. The next day we received the news my brother had indeed passed. I felt devastated, my father whom I have never seen cry, wept and I almost could not imagine a worse day, at the same time I was over 360lbs and the trip was also intended to help me get started to be in a better diet and exercise, however the grief of my brother's death kept me depressed and I actually increased my weight to close to 390lbs. I tried to go to the gym and eat better with no results. then I heard about the procedure of gastric bypass, at first I dismissed the idea that it could be something for me, I felt I had no real choices. however one day I called my benefits customer service and to my surprise there was an opportunity to qualify for such procedure. it took me some time to feel like I could do this, that I deserved it. eventually I worked with my doctor and I learned that providence had a clinic that could do the procedure. I enrolled and did all the things I needed to do to qualify for it, after 3 months of hard work and loosing 35lbs I was able to get the surgery in 2022. today I have lost 160lbs and I am on my way to achieve my weight goal. I am so thankful to Providence for giving me this opportunity, I miss my brother and I dedicate all of this to him, he was overweight as well and that contributed ultimately to his death. I want to live my life and honor his memory by being better for myself. I miss him dearly and I know he is in heaven. thank you.