Free VSG Surgery, the Prize of a Lifetime

September 23, 2014

At the 2014 ObesityHelp National Conference there was a lot to celebrate!

"We have been sponsors of the ObesityHelp National Conference for the past two years, both of those years, we have sponsored a giveaway raffle for a free Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG) surgery!  We know that not everyone can afford surgery, so we like to provide an opportunity for an attendee of the Conference to win a free Sleeve surgery performed by our Chief Surgeon, Dr. Elias Ortiz, and his medical team including Assistant Surgeon, Dr. Oscar Morales. We have such a great time connecting with every one at the conference and love seeing updates from past patients on how much more they can do now since having the surgery.  It is nice to be a part of giving someone all that happiness!" -- A Lighter Me

Attendees were able to sign up for the surgery giveaway at A Lighter Me's exhibit table.  Towards the end of the #OH2014 Conference, a random drawing was conducted and Astrid Cardona-Santivanez was the lucky winner!  After lots of jumping for joy, Astrid began the pre-op process and had surgery with Dr. Ortiz one week after the conference, on August 22, 2014.

Astrid's Journey to VSG Surgery

Astrid is a 37 year old mom of two, married to a wonderful man and currently going through her last semester of nursing school. She was born in Bolivia and came to the states 15 years ago.

Astrid has been battling obesity for the past 12 years, with her highest weight  in the early 2000's, when she hit 265-270 pounds. After several attempts to lose weight, she tried Weight Watchers and was able to lose 50 pounds and maintained the weight loss for three years. Later, her activity level decreased and her weight crept back up.  Astrid expressed that this was her all time low that made her want to research weight loss surgery.

"I started researching weight loss surgery but I found the options available to me didn't work.  The price of insurance was too expensive, the requirements from the insurance companies were too long and involved, even with the Affordable Care Act insurance that I currently have." --Astrid

During Astrid's research, she found ObesityHelp.com through people she follows on Instagram.  One of them mentioned going to the Conference, so Astrid checked out ObesityHelp.com and registered as a member of the OH community. After visiting OH, Astrid decided that she wanted to directly interact with people who had already had the surgery to see first-hand how it was.  From there, she registered for the #OH2014 Conference and that is how she came across the information about the A Lighter Me surgery giveaway.  Until going to the ObesityHelp Conference, Astrid had never known anyone in person who had gone through surgery. At the conference, she met other attendees and won a prize of a lifetime, a free VSG surgery!

VSG and the Future

"I still can't believe I won! I am incredibly thankful and feel really blessed with the way things worked out for me. It was one of the happiest, most blessed moments of my life! I'm happy to announce that I had vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) on August 22, 2014. I'm so happy with my weight loss so far.  I had a wonderful experience in Mexico! As a nursing student , I saw the hospital there and I can tell you that it has all the commodities and services that a hospital in the U.S. would.  Everyone at A Lighter Me is so caring and warm, they really do make you feel like they are family to you and Dr. Ortiz is such a wonderful human being, so smart and charismatic, as well as knowledgeable." - Astrid

Astrid is looking forward to the future! Some of her goals:

1. Be able to walk without pain.
2. Be more active with her children.
3. To feel pretty without needing to wear a ton of make-up.
4. To wear a bathing suit!
5. To fit into regular size clothes.
6. To feel more energized!

Stop by and say congratulations to Astrid on her surgery!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cathy Wilson, PCC, BCC, had RNY surgery in 2001 and lost 147 pounds. Cathy is a regular contributor to the OH Blog and authored the "Mind Matters" column in ObesityHelp Magazine. Cathy is a licensed pilot and loves flying. She is a member of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC). Read more articles by Cathy!

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