“Juan Pedro arrived at the Jardines de Guadalupe de Zapopan Hospital on Tuesday afternoon after a complex transfer from … Aguascalientes, where he had spent six years in bed and without being able to leave,” Gastric Bypass Mexico, the medical centre handling the case, said in a communique.
The 32-year-old Pedro said that this is “the start of a new life”, adding that he was “grateful and hopeful” for the opportunity being provided to him.
He said that with his current situation he knew that he was in danger of dying, saying that he had been overweight ever since he was a child.
“At 15, I already weighed 200kg and my body continued gaining weight … out of control.
“I come from a humble family and we didn’t know how to fight against my obesity.”
Dr Jose Antonio Castañeda, who – together with his team – has handled more than 8,000 cases and will treat Pedro through the health centre’s social action programme, visited his new patient before the transfer.
“He’s nervous but very happy. His situation is borderline, and the fact that he hasn’t died is thanks to his youth.
“It’s impossible for a human body to stand for very long the pathologies that are besetting him,” said the bariatric surgeon.
Pedro’s medical situation includes several ailments associated with obesity, including hypothyroidism, Type 2 diabetes causing hypertension, a high blood glucose level and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the statement said.
During the transfer to Guadalajara, the patient was accompanied at all times by Castañeda and several members of his team, as well as by a medical unit that monitored his health status and could treat him if it was needed.
The treatment will last about six months, during which he will lose weight and have his other ailments addressed. The treatment will culminate in surgery to “definitively resolve his problems of obesity and reduce his weight”.
According to a 2015 study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, about 32.4 per cent of adult Mexicans are obese, a figure exceeded only by the United States, where 35.3 per cent of adults are obese.