Man loses 17st to help save his sister’s life
A loving brother lost almost 17 stone to be eligible for a donation scheme to help save his sister's life after she was diagnosed with kidney failure.
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00:00My weight probably peaked at the end of high school and then it skyrocketed in college.
00:05I was only 19 and I weighed 31 stone 3.
00:09My doctor had said to me, look, you're not giving yourself much longer if you keep heading down this road.
00:14So that was a bit of a shocker.
00:16The turning point actually was my dad saying, I'll help you if you help yourself.
00:21Somebody that I bumped into that I hadn't seen in ages said that he was in a slumming world
00:26and I was told it was going to be really supportive
00:29and in the first week I lost like 12 pounds or something.
00:32And I was like, I can do this.
00:34I really enjoyed the camaraderie, it was lovely to have the support
00:38and it was people sort of going, go on, you've got this.
00:42When I started, I would rather not exercise because it sounded like a bad word.
00:48So I started just doing small walks and by the time I walked back, my thighs were bleeding.
00:53I was just too big.
00:55I tried to go upstairs, it took me three goes to get all the way up
00:58and I was sat in a bath, deflated.
01:00And now I absolutely love exercise.
01:03I do about four miles of walking a day at lunchtime.
01:05Running occasionally, cycling, love cycling.
01:08But now I've done Snowdon twice, done Scarfell and just things to push myself
01:13whereas I never would have pushed myself because it would have broke me.
01:16But now I want to break records rather than myself.
01:20I always wanted a Mini Cooper.
01:22I used to talk to my grandma and grandad endlessly, my mum.
01:25I used to watch Italian Job.
01:26It was a goal to have a Mini but obviously you can't be big and have a Mini
01:29because I couldn't fit in it.
01:31So I used to always go to shows with my grandad.
01:33He'd try and sit me in it, didn't work.
01:35Finally sat in one and then we bought one the same weekend
01:38and I could sit in it perfectly.
01:40Another big driver that shifted my weight loss towards Summer World
01:45was that my sister has got a kidney disease and needed a match.
01:50Me and my dad got tested and unfortunately didn't match.
01:53But there was a scheme that's a living donor sharing scheme.
01:58Obviously when I first started I wasn't healthy enough
02:00so they had to turn me away.
02:02So now I've been tested and not long ago I got really good news
02:06that we've actually been accepted for the programme.
02:08So this means that if I match with someone
02:10then my sister has a greater chance of matching with someone else
02:13therefore making her chances of a successful donor higher.
02:17So I've always had a really big appetite
02:20probably due to the fact that I just ate what I wanted
02:23and I just crammed it in.
02:25But over time with the help of Summer World my mentality has changed
02:29and I've drifted towards understanding that what I eat
02:33can be interesting and varied but still be nutritionally beneficial to me.
02:38The future for me holds a lot.
02:41Going on to see how far I can take my story
02:45and hopefully people will listen or inspire them to make a change.