Celebrating a Non-Scale Victory – Running for My Life
June 11, 2015Celebrating a Non-Scale Victory with Brian!
Told by his doctor that he had two choices, "Lose weight or die", Brian made the decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery in 2009. He became a Triathlete and beat obesity, only to have another health battle cross his path.
"I think that the most important thing that we learned was to make sure that the family is involved. It’s a private decision but at the same time, it is a family decision because it’s a lifestyle that has to change. It is a life changing event that I didn’t expect to be as impactful as it was. I have seen it change not only our lives, but our children’s lives. They eat smarter. They eat better." ~Brian, OH Member bclqac
My life has been an interesting one. When I was a child, I liked the exciting and high risk rides and never thought much about what might happen. There was a time when running with my brother and friends that they jumped off the Wildwood Boardwalk so I did it as well. They were okay but I scraped my back and lost a few layers of skin. Today, I still enjoy the risk taking and I never met a roller coaster I don’t want to ride. No matter how active I was, I continued to have issues with my weight, and I would gain weight and lose it up and down like a yo-yo. With the knowledge of weight issues in my family, I did begin to watch what I was doing. There was the time in my life when I wanted to compete in bodybuilding and weightlifting shows. There was a time when I was in the gym lifting weights and went from weighing 175 pounds to 225 pounds and only had about 12 percent fat. To say I was in shape was an understatement. During this time I began running and even did my first marathon in Alaska in 1995.
Several years later in 2003, after the Marine Corp Marathon, I started having nerve pain. The doctors identified the problem and removed three discs from my cervical spine and fused them together. This is when the weight really started to come on, as I wasn’t able to exercise or lift anything heavy for a long time. The drugs they gave me for pain and the high calcium diet was another factor in the mix.
In December of 2004, I felt like I had pneumonia and actually had a heart attack. This came as a total shock to me! On December 30, I had four stints inserted in my right coronary artery. Now my exercise was restricted more and I had more drugs to take daily. The side effect of many of these drugs was weight gain. The weight kept coming on and I was eventually diagnosed with sleep apnea, given a CPAP machine, and more drugs.
In an effort to lose the excess weight, I decided to consult with a doctor and met with Dr. Babak Moeinolmolki of Healthy Life Bariatrics. I learned that I had the chance to lose the weight and get control of my health with the help of surgery. This was great news! I did everything that he and his wonderful team told me to do.
Just a few weeks out from surgery, I started to walk miles and then walk/run. Before I knew it, I was running miles and another marathon. My education and training didn’t stop there! I became a certified trainer so that I could use my training to help others dealing with obesity get control of their lives. My wife was my first client and after her gastric bypass surgery, she followed my plans and ran her first 5K and ultimately a Half Marathon.
In 2011, after training and competing in triathlons, I ran my first Half Ironman race in Maryland. Just a short two weeks later I underwent a colonoscopy and that started my race against cancer. Within two weeks of my diagnosis, I went from stage 1 to stage 3 colon cancer. Dr. Moeinolmolki came to my rescue and connected me to Dr. Apostolides who soon performed surgery on me and within weeks I started chemotherapy.
When someone gets diagnosed with cancer there really isn't a whole lot of time to waste in getting treatment. My cancer was so aggressive that it needed a fast action but there was one event on my calendar that I didn’t want to drop and that was the Seagull Century Ride with my Leukemia Team in Training. So while raising money for cancer and with very little training, I got on my bike three days after my third chemo treatment. The team protected me and stayed with me. Eight and half hours later, I crossed the finish line. The doctors were not in favor of this effort and the chemo-induced neuropathy was in full blast! I couldn’t drink fluids on the bike as they were too cold for me. My wife met me at all the stops and had warm water and sandwiches for my protectors and me.
When I finished my treatments and was part of a cancer group, I learned about how much exercise was needed for patients during and after treatments were over. This is when I started to learn the various exercises that cancer patients would benefit from and I started working with them along with my other clients. Today, I only work with people fighting obesity or cancer, as my goal is to see them win. Life is tough and these fights make it tougher!
