Sad News in Muddling Through As Best I Can

The last time I was here, I spoke about my weight loss, with which I am very happy. A few days ago, I heard that the organization that got me started down this road has closed it’s doors.
The company, called NeWeigh, is one which no one outside Texas or Louisiana is not likely to have heard of. It was started by Diane Crumley, an incredibly dynamic woman it became my great pleasure to know. The tagline on their radio ads was “Call me your little sister, because you can’t call me big anymore”.
Even though I was over 500 pounds at my largest, I had never considered weight loss surgery, it seemed too extreme. After a heart attack scare and a doctors reccomendation, I thought about and discarded the idea.
What finally motivated me to do it was Austin, my eldest son. Austin’s mother and I were divorced but have always remained friends, so when he was set to receive awards for football his senior year, we were both there for it.
When they called out the award for most valuable player, we were asked to take the field with him. When I came out, there was laughter and ridicule from people in the crowd. I felt like I had cast a shadow on his moment and caused him embarrassment by my appearance and I couldn’t stand the thought of Austin being embarrassed of me, so I contacted NeWeigh.t
While waiting for the initial consultation, I met a pretty young auburn haired girl in a red dress who began telling me about her experience with the surgery. She had been over 400 pounds, and was now a size six.
I then met the staff who were wonderful ladies. They walked me through the steps, evaluated me and took down all my information. Two weeks later I underwent a vertical banded gastroplasty (stomach stapling). I lost over a hundred pounds before I had complications. A ring which is placed around your esophagus to restrict food intake had ruptured my esophagus requiring surgery. Rather than risk it happening a second time, I opted to have the gastroplasty converted to a Roux en Y gastric bypass, a more radical procedure, and that’s how I lost most of my weight thereafter.
As time progressed, I attended there aftercare meetings, and began dating Cheryl, the pretty auburn haired girl. And kept losing weight.
In February of 2000 I became engaged and shortly after, Austin was involved in a single car accident, and at the age of 18 died.
I was naturally devastated and barely able to function, but Cheryl and the ladies from NeWeigh gathered around not just me, but Austin’s mother.
Cheryl and I went on to be married, and I later adopted her three sons. I was offered a position at NeWeigh which I accepted for several years, and the staff there became nearly family to me. I still speak to them regularly.
When Cheryl died three years ago, the ladies of NeWeigh came out in force to support the boys and me. They stood with me once again during one of the most difficult times of my life. They have continued to be a presence in our lives over time.
I was upset to hear that they have closed their doors. They quite literally saved not only my life, but that of many others not just with the surgery, but with the guidance and support of staff and other program participants. For people who were used to feeling “less than”, it was a bastion of hope. We were never made to feel like less than others there, because we were all, or had been, in the same boat. There was acceptance, guidance, and genuine caring of a sort I have never found in such a setting before or since.
The ladies are still in my life, I will continue to speak to them often as always. It just saddens me that this little group of guardian angels isn’t going to be out there saving people like me any longer.