It is with great sadness that I write this post about Marc S. Patterson. I didn't know him long, in fact less than a week, but he touched my life more than anybody has in a very long time. You see, I too am overweight and had finally resigned myself to gastric bypass surgery. Last week, I was doing research on the Internet when I came across a post that Marc had made here about the State of Florida Vocational Rehabilitation, a program that pays for WLS for people that do not have insurance.
I contacted Marc about VR and he was so kind to respond to me right away. I had so many questions, so he called me. Like two old friends, we spoke close to four hours on the phone, two days before his long awaited trip to the hospital. He explained everything about the surgery in great detail to me along with the past years' trials and tribulations of his weight loss struggle. You could feel his warmth, generosity and obvious knowledge about gastric bypass surgery.
Come to find out, Marc was having surgery at the hospital around the corner from my house, so as we parted that day on the phone, I told him that he had made a new friend and that I would come to see him on Sunday to bring him anything he needed as he did not have any family at all to support him and he was all alone.
When I called the hospital on Sunday they were very vague with me stating that Marc was in surgery. I replied "Ohh, so his surgery was postponed? The nurse answered with a very flat "yes." I didn't think anything strange about it as surgeries get delayed all the time. Marc, himself, had told me that his second attempt was canceled four days prior due to insurance.
I decided to give Marc a day to recover and today when I called the hospital, after being put on hold for what seemed like forever, a very friendly nurse came to the phone and informed me that Marc had coded and passed away Sunday afternoon. She stated that he did not do well at all and was sorry to tell me about the terrible news. I just sat there crying for a man I hardly knew, who only wanted to start a new life.
Since I had just newly discovered ObesityHelp.com, I was not aware there was a special place to become an angel and that Marc didn't have one, but I want everyone to know that he did have an angel and that I will never forget him.
Sincerely - Angela Reynolds