The weight is over
Concerned co-workers intervene, motivating man to shape up lifestyle
One day last October, when Garth Webster popped across the hall to Eric Granger’s office at FedExForum, the visit wasn’t completely appreciated.
“I had mixed emotions,” Granger admits, “partly, knowing that a friend cares; but partly, feeling it’s nobody’s business.”
But Webster, vice president of FedExForum ticket operations, felt obligated. Within that past year, two of their coworkers had died suddenly, the most recent one having had symptoms of illness, refusing to see a doctor and dying at 39.
“I always felt, ‘Why didn’t I do more?’ Then, Eric wasn’t well for two weeks,” explains Webster, of Lakeland. “People would say to me, ‘You have to say something to Eric about his weight.’ Eric knew he had issues, ate horribly, three or four sodas at dinner. When I went to his office and brought it up, it was a little bit embarrassing.”
“I knew,” says Granger, 43, of Germantown. “I knew for the last year or so that I had to start living life differently, needed to watch what I’m eating. I’d bought a house last August with a swimming pool, so I could start swimming … but I hadn’t started the hard change of lifestyle.
“I’m 5-7 and peaked at about 350 pounds. It just became who I was.”
Within a week he’d face medical realities avoided for years; within six months he’d discipline himself into losing more than 100 pounds. By June, he was down to 213 pounds, and still advancing in physical fitness.
“I was heavy as a child, but not grossly,” Granger says. “Really, (the weight gain) started after high school, when I wasn’t playing sports anymore, wasn’t exercising at all.”
The years, the stress and long hours of work as a facilities manager, most recently as vp of arena operations at FedExForum, took their toll. Then a colleague died suddenly.
That’s when Webster pre- sented Granger with a proposal: Let’s get checked out, go together to see Dr. Steven Gubin at The Stern Cardiovascular Center. Together.
“Eric came to see me — super nice guy,” Gubin says. “Still, here is this morbidly obese gentleman, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, early onset diabetes, high cholesterol. Didn’t exercise at all. Poor, poor diet. We see a lot of patients like this.”
“My blood pressure,” Granger says, “was sky high, like 200 over 130 (normal is around 120/80). Dr. Gubin wouldn’t let me leave his office for about four hours, not until we got the blood pressure down (with medication). By afternoon, Dr. Gubin said, ‘You’re out of danger, but come back in three to five days. We’re going to get you on a routine, on a diet.’ I said, ‘Fine. I want to do this.’
“But that afternoon, about 4:30, I’m at my computer and realize I can’t move my right hand. At all. I go to stand up and realize I can’t move my right foot, right leg. So pitiful.”
With much effort, Granger hailed a colleague, who called an ambulance, and Granger spent several days in Methodist University Hospital.
“My blood sugar was over 300 (normal is 70-140). I’d had a mini-stroke.”
His pastor, Rev. James J. Martell of Holy Rosary Catholic Church, visited. “He said, ‘You did this to yourself, so don’t blame God or anybody else. You can fix it … You have the ability to make it right not only for yourself, but to have influence over others. Listen to people … Allow God.”
Dr. Gubin says, “We sent him to a diabetic clinic, cholesterol clinic. A lot of people here motivated him. His co-workers, like Garth (Webster), continued to be supportive.”
Webster admits: “I felt some redemption, because I did something. But really, it was Eric.”
Granger happily reports that he lost 108 pounds in the first six months and continues the pattern, keeping daily intake to around 1,800 calories and exercising regularly.