Mexican man, once the world’s fattest, dreams of walking again
guadalajara — The folds of flesh on Juan Pedro Franco’s back sway heavily as he cranks the pedals of a modified bicycle with his arms, exercising to boost his already jawdropping weight-loss total of 250kg (550 pounds).
Franco, who comes from northern Mexico, used to be the world’s fattest man.
Guinness World Records certified the title after he weighed in at 595kg in October 2016.
At the time, he was completely bed-ridden, suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, and had a severely obstructed lung. Doctors warned his life was at risk if he didn’t lose weight.
That’s when Franco decided to undergo double gastric surgery.
He and his mother moved from his home state, Aguascalientes, to Guadalajara in the west, the city where his bariatric surgeon, Jose Antonio Castaneda, has his clinic.
Castaneda put Franco, who suffers from hypothyroidism, on a “very severe” diet of Mediterranean cuisine for six months.
Then, in May 2017, came the first surgery: a gastric sleeve operation, which involves removing part of the stomach to reduce its volume by up to 80 per cent.
Six months later, he underwent a gastric bypass, in which Castaneda halved what remained of his stomach, and then connected one of the smaller pouches to the intestines.
The intestines themselves were also divided, to reduce his absorption of nutrients.
Since Franco could barely move at the time, burning off calories would never have been enough, doctors said. The only option was to radically reduce the size of his stomach.
Now 33-year-old, Franco currently weighs in at 345kg. Castaneda expects him to lose about 100kg more in the next year and a half. He is still connected to an oxygen tube 24 hours a day, but he spends less and less time lying in bed.
Using a walker, he has managed to take his first steps in years.
Now, he says, he has one big dream: “I want to walk again.” Franco’s skin is pale white from lack of exposure to the sun. —