372磅妇获赞助墨国做减肥手术
(沙斯卡通2日加新社电)斯高沙省1篇预告讣闻挽回1名女子的性命，为她争取到减肥的机会。
42岁女子科克利(Lillian Coakley,图)痴肥，在轮候减肥手术。她听到手术轮候期长达10年后，心想生存机会渺茫，以绝望的心情自撰讣闻，在网站张贴。
她的网志面世后，马上成为全国新闻，人们深深感受到笔者的忧虑。
斯高沙省低萨克维尔(Lower Sackville)居民科克利表示，她初时以为手术轮候期是3、4年，后来知道自己要等10年，她大为震惊。
她说：“(在互助小组里)，有人问，轮候名单上的人怎么了？我说：‘人们怎么了，人们等死。’”
科克利相信，她必死无异。
“我坐下来，写我的讣闻，很难下笔，我把讣闻发到几个地方。”科克利的讣闻落在西蒙斯(Debra Simons)的沙斯卡通减肥顾问网址，给她带来希望。
西蒙斯现经营重不再等顾问纤体公司(Weight No More Consulting)，她很同情科克利的处境。
西蒙斯的公司为客户安排到墨西哥动视镜减重手术，她本身动过减肥手术，术前体重286磅，已减去130磅。
她说：“我(把科克利的讣闻)发给我的医生，告诉他们，‘看看这个故事，我为这位女士难过，有没有办法帮忙？’
“几个医生碰个面，一起讨论这事，随后给我发电邮，表示他们会替她做手术，不收分文。我想，如果他们同意为她开刀，我会给她机票和交通费、酒店费和药费。”
西蒙斯接着打电话给科克利，告诉她此事。
她愿意承担科克利的10,000元交通费和手术，科克利不用付任何费用。
科克利说，墨西哥和沙斯卡通省有人愿意承包1个陌生人的手术、一切费用，她不敢相信。她到墨西哥动手术，第一次乘坐飞机，第一次离开斯高沙省。她出门时重372磅，减肥后10天，她的体重减到334磅，她的目标是再减135磅。
科克利说：“我个人的目标是199.99磅，医生说我可在6个月内达到。”
她说，手术后，她马上感觉到分别，没有肚子饿的感觉。她割掉80%的胃，胃消化功能没变，但卡路里摄入量降低，有减肥作用。
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Daunted by 10-year wait in Canada, over-weight woman goes to Tijuana, Mexico for free weight-loss surgery
Postmedia News Nov 28, 2011 – 4:58 PM ET
By Amy Chung
In just one hour, Lillian Coakley says, her life changed.
The single mother of two, 44, says she had been waiting 10 years for weight-loss surgery in Nova Scotia and wasn’t sure if she would live to see that day come.
In July, out of frustration, she penned her own obituary, a grim depiction of how she might die due to complications with obesity.
The Sackville, N.S., woman weighed 372 pounds and was desperate to shed the fat.
She suffered from asthma, sleep apnea and had a susceptibility to Type 2 diabetes.
“I don’t want to die,” she said Friday.
Halfway across the country, Debra Simons, CEO of Weight No More Consulting, responded to her plea and offered the surgery to her for free — in Mexico.
“I was nervous. I had never been on a plane, I never left my country, didn’t know what to expect,” said Coakley.
On Monday, Coakley swallowed her fears and was on a plane to Tijuana, Mexico, for a vertical sleeve, a one-hour weight loss surgery that removed as much as 80% of her stomach.
“It was a great experience, I’d recommend it to anyone in a heart beat,” she said from her home on Thursday, adding she was impressed by the country and the cleanliness and care at the hospital.
Though she looks the same, doctors told Coakley she could reach her goal weight of 199 pounds within six to eight months.
“My goal was to be healthy, not skinny, if I lost the pounds, it’s a bonus,” she said.
“This was a life-changing surgery,” she adds.
Dr. Jaime Ponce De Leon, the bariatric surgeon who operated on Coakley, performs three to five surgeries a day, mainly on foreign patients, said Simons.
“When I read her obituary, I thought I couldn’t believe this could be happening in Canada,” said Simons.
“Ten years to wait for a surgery where she has already been told her life would end if she didn’t do something . . . that’s not even reasonable. This lady has two kids and my heart was just breaking, I couldn’t believe it,” said Simons, whose company arranges medical tourism to Mexico for Canadians seeking cosmetic surgery and dentistry. However, the vast majority of her clients call her up for weight-loss surgery.
Simons charges an all-inclusive price of $10,000 Cdn for flight, accommodations and surgery.
“In Canada, a vertical sleeve would cost $44,000,” said Simons who had one done in Mexico in 2010 and lost 131 pounds as a result.
“People need help and people need to know that’s it’s safe to go to Mexico for surgery and there are top bariatric surgeons,” she said.
Inspired by her own experience, Simons opened her company in March to facilitate the bridge between Canada and Mexico for medical tourism. So far, she has taken 37 clients to Mexico, many of them who received weight-loss surgery.
Simons said in Saskatoon, where she is based, there are no bariatric centres. The closest one is in Regina where there is a six-year waiting list for weight-loss surgery.
“When people decide to have weight loss surgery, at that point, they have tried everything else and their mind is made up at that point. They don’t want to wait another six to 10 years. They have tried every diet on the planet and the gym . . . sometimes they gain it all back and are in this yo-yo syndrome,” said Simons.
“By the time (my clients) approach me, they have tried everything and many of them don’t have $44,000 to pay for the surgery,” she adds.
Coakley said the Canadian government should be “ashamed of themselves” for allowing people to wait so long for the “life-saving surgery” and hopes something will be changed to help Canadians like her.
Postmedia News
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Lillian Coakley’s obituary:
We are sad to inform you of the untimely passing of a young mother, sister, daughter and friend. She died at a young age due to complication with obesity that she fought for years to overcome.
She was the youngest child of 7 and she leaves behind her 2 sons, who both lived at home with her. Her entire life was lived for her boys who she loved immensely and were her pride and joy.
She was survived by her 3 sisters and 3 brothers, along with many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. She loved to sew and do crafts and was an awesome cook and loved to help others and would give what she could to anyone in need. She enjoyed comedy and good laughs.
Lillian suffered many years with asthma, severe high blood pressure, pain due to stress on her joints from her weight and in the last while was diagnosed with sleep apnea and diabetes.
There will be no flowers at her request and the body will be cremated as she would hate to be a burden on her family and have to be carried away to her final resting place by a tractor, so she spared her family with finding a mass amount of pallbearers and more stares and jokes about her weight as her beloved family mourns the loss of her as they did throughout her life.
She would appreciate if you speak out and support Obesity Weight Loss Surgery and obesity awareness and write a letter to your local MLA and to anyone who will listen.
