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I want to offer a special thanks to Matt Welborn and his mother
Susan. Matt had weight loss surgery at the age of 12. Here is
Matt’s story as told by his Mother, Susan: Dear Barbara,
Well here is Matt's story. Unfortunately Matt followed in my
footsteps. I was obese my entire life. I tipped the scales at 330
pounds in October 2001 before I had gastric bypass surgery at John’s
Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. I successfully lost and have
kept off 180 pounds now weighing 150 pounds! It has been 5 years
since my weight loss surgery and I have never been happier.
As my son got older he was slowly but surely taking after me. I
knew everything he was going through, not only physically but
mentally and emotionally as well. He would call me daily from the
school nurses office complaining about not feeling well when all
along it was because he was getting picked on and didn’t want to go
back to class.
Like every other obese person, including the old me, we tried
diets, exercise and nothing worked. I was eating healthy, therefore
junk food in the house was not the issue. I slowly began the search
to see if weight loss surgery was even an option for him.
I first e-mailed my surgeon at Johns Hopkins, Dr Thomas
Magnuson. He said my son was too young and that no one was doing
this procedure on children. I knew how miserable my son was and I
felt every bit of his pain, yet there was nothing I could do for
him.
I still continued my search. I finally read an article about the
Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida. I was familiar with their
bariatric program at the Ohio campus but only for adults. So I sent
an e-mail to Dr Raul Rosenthal, head of the Bariatric Surgery
program at Cleveland Clinic Florida. I told him of my success with
gastric bypass surgery and how I wanted to help my son. I asked if
he had any options. He immediately contacted me and requested I
schedule an appointment and bring Matt to see him.
We first met Dr Rosenthal on January 31, 2006. He explained to
me a new procedure called the Sleeve Gastrectomy. Basically this
procedure is not like the bypass that I had and does not pose the
complication of malabsorption like with my surgery. They basically
remove the back 2/3rds of the stomach. Dr Rosenthal sat and talked
with Matt. He asked him why he wanted the surgery. Matt started to
cry and said, “All I want is to be a normal kid.” Both Dr Rosenthal
and I started to cry. He promised him that he was going to help
him.
When Dr Rosenthal’s office called my insurance company, United
Health Care, they were told this was a covered procedure. I was
ecstatic! However that was soon reduced to sorrow because they
denied the authorization once it was submitted. I decided that
regardless, Matt had to have this done and I would have to pull the
money out of my annuity fund and pay cash for it, which was $17,900.
We then set off on the trip of our lifetime. The Bariatric
Program at Cleveland Clinic required that Matt see a counselor. We
went for 4 sessions and they were convinced he was in good mental
health other than the depression from being overweight and they
cleared him. But Dr Rosenthal wanted more. He insisted that Matt
see not only a counselor, but an actual psychiatrist. We saw her
and she cleared him as well.
Next we had to get the pediatrician on board. Unfortunately this
was an uphill battle. Matt’s pediatrician would not support my
decision to allow Matt to have the surgery. I researched so much
and had the surgeon send her a lot of information as well. But it
still came down to the fact that it was all so new and there just
wasn’t enough information on the effects on children and she would
not give her blessing.
So I decided that if Mohamed wouldn’t come to the mountain then
the mountain would go to Mohamed! I searched everywhere in Palm
Beach County for a pediatrician that would support Matt’s weight
loss surgery. I finally found Dr Edmund Doering in Jupiter who,
although an older and more reserved physician said he would not only
support Matt’s decision to have surgery, but follow Matt before,
during and after his surgery. We finally got the all clear from Dr
Doering and completed all the pre-op tests which included an upper
GI, ultrasound, and blood work.
We returned to see Dr Rosenthal on Feb. 28, 2006. Matthew weighed
287 pounds on this date. Matthew was cleared and only had to
attend a nutritional counseling session before he was scheduled for
surgery. We got the date, April 17, 2006.
On April 6th to the 10th, I took Matthew and his sister on a
cruise to Mexico. When we returned I got a call from Dr Rosenthal
telling me that he had to cancel the surgery. When I asked why he
said that the hospital administration had heard that he was planning
to do this surgery on a 12 year old and there had never been a
patient that young to have surgery at that hospital. They were not
sure about doing it. I was so angry. I called the hospital and
requested to speak to administration and told them that I was
bringing my 12 year old son to their office and let them look him in
the eye and break his heart. Let them tell him the one thing that
would change his life forever has been taken away from him. Within
5 minutes I got a call from Dr Rosenthal saying the surgery was back
on.
On April 17th we arrived at the Cleveland Clinic at 5:00 am.
Matt was taken in and treated incredibly well. I was so impressed
with the hospital and staff. I was constantly kept informed what
was going on in the operating room. Once he was in recovery I was
taken to his side. The procedure was done laparoscopically so he
was in the hospital for only 3 days. Matt left the hospital on
4/19/06.
Matthew has returned to Dr Rosenthal for all of his post-op
appointments and has done phenomenally well. He has bypassed adults
having the same surgery in recovery time and actual weight loss. On
Oct. 27th, 2006 Matt returned for his 6-month post-op appointment
and has lost 75 pounds! He has gained so much in self respect and
confidence! The local ABC news station WPBF TV 25 in West Palm
Beach followed him for 6 months and recently aired his story. They
plan on following up with him at the 1-year mark.
I have attached before and after pictures of Matt as well as
myself. I really hope that this story can get out and help other
families of obese kids! Please feel free to post this as well as my
e-mail address.
Thank You!
Susan Welborn
swelborn@adelphia.net
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Congratulations Matt and Mom |
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