Obese Mexican Man Leaves Home for First Time in Five Years

On Wednesday, a Mexican man who at one time weighed more than 1000 pounds left his home for the first time in over five years. Manuel Uribe, who still weighs 840 pounds, was pushed out of his home on his bed to enjoy the outdoors and to talk to his neighbors. Uribe has lost a very large amount of weight in the last year by sticking to a high-protein diet. He has lost 395 pounds so far.

After lying on his bed outside for a while, Uribe was lifted by a fork lift into a truck and was driven around his town, San Nicolas de los Garza.

Quite a large crowd formed to see Uribe, as he has not left his home in five years. He enjoyed waving at his fellow townspeople and listening to a mariachi band. There were many news reporters and photographers waiting for Uribe as he went by. His neighbors were very caring and felt happy to see him be able to leave the house. "I would go crazy if I had to be inside my house for so many years," said Uribe's neighbor, Guadalupe Guerra.

Uribe has been unable to move on his own since 2002. Everything is done for him. Usually his mother would prepare his food and wash him. A little over a year ago, Uribe had an interview on national television in the United States and asked for help from physicians. This plead worked as Uribe was offered a gastric bypass surgery operation by two different doctors. Uribe decided to avoid surgery and work with his dieting. His ultimate goal is to work down to the weight of 265 pounds and plans to stay on the dieting until he reaches it. It is expected that it will take several years for Uribe to be able to reach that weight and leave the house on his own.

Uribe clearly has a medical problem, and his weight is something that he most likely could do nothing about until it was too late. It is good to see him working hard now to become healthy. He was always very overweight as a child and it only got worse as the years went on. Uribe should serve as a good example for other people with a serious weight problem. He set his goals, and he has reached one of them so far. Hopefully Uribe can keep up the good work and reach his eventual weight goal and be able to move on his own.

Cited:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17509907/