December 11, 2012 At 689 Pounds, Dominique Lanoise Loses Her Fight With Obesity
by Tammy J. Colter, OH Magazine
On January 12, 2010, an enormous and devastating earthquake struck Haiti eliminating an approximated 316,000 individuals. Dominique Lanoise was one of the fortunate survivor’s but she was caught amongst the earthquake debris in a manner that many might not picture. Weighing nearly 500 pounds at the time, It would be three months before Lanoise could be rescued from the island and reunited with her 6 children in Miami. A self-proclaimed food addict, Lanoise’s weight avoided her from being rescued and evacuated by an industrial aircraft. Lastly, after much undesirable media attention and with the help from the president of the Dominican Republic, an air force airplane utilized to transport military cars and heavy equipment rescued her and flew her to Homestead Flying force base in Florida. She was appreciative and grateful to be safe and to be reunited with her family as she excused all the difficulty she had caused due to her weight.
Her weight and food dependency plight brought 40-year-old Lanoise to the attention of TLC manufacturers who filmed her battle against weight problems for 12 months in a documentary entitled, “600 Pound Mother: Race Versus Time” which just recently aired again on TLC and continues in another episode set to air on December 13th. A prisoner in her own body, her fight versus obesity was chronicled as she struggled to lose the weight required to be considered for gastric coronary bypass. Unable to leave her home in Miami, Dr. Oscar Hernandez visited her for a medical examination and informed her that her bed would eventually be her coffin and where she would pass away if she did not do something about her weight.
Not happy to operate on Lanoise at her existing weight due to the risks included, Dr. Hernandez and his group, including Dr. Jorge Rabaza, the bariatric cosmetic surgeon in charge of giving her life-saving surgical treatment, put her on a pre-surgery diet and were hopeful when she started to lose weight and got close to her target surgical treatment weight of 500 pounds. Lanoise had actually lost 100 pounds in 4 months. However when her surgical treatment date got here and Lanoise was weighed in before medical professionals would perform the surgery, they were ravaged, even sad, to discover that she had actually gained all the weight back and more. The medical professional’s declined to perform the surgical treatment that day. She had been lying to the physician’s about the foods she was consuming, strayed from her diet plan, and had actually continued eating Haitian foods sprinkling them with a powder that commercials had convinced her would assist her to loose the weight she needed.
“She’s gone to town eating, there is no operation at these numbers.” commented Dr. Hernandez. “It wasn’t a one time fault, it was a methodical assassination of her weight loss program.”
Dr. Hernandez decided that he needed to have a conference with her daughters, who were her caretakers, bringing her meals and bathing her. He wanted to be sure they supported what he and his group were doing. After all, he could not be there 24 hours a day to oversee what Lanoise was eating. As it turns out, the daughters had actually blended emotions about their mom having weight loss surgical treatment. They wanted to see her walking and free from obesity however were afraid of the threats included with someone their mommy’s size.
As the month’s passed after the original surgical treatment date was cancelled, Lanoise’s weight and food dependency continued to spiral out of control and her weight was at an all time high of 689 pounds. The physician’s decided that if they did not perform the surgical treatment quickly, despite her existing weight, there would be no life to save. They performed the weight-loss surgical treatment and despite the risks involved, the surgery worked out. Lanoise’s stomach was now 90 percent smaller and her wish for a healthy life was alive once again. After her stay at the health center, Lanoise was moved to a rehabilitation center where she stayed for just 2 days before asking to move back home.
Unfortunately, 2 weeks after her surgery, Dominique Lanoise lost her race against time and died due to an illness unassociated to the surgical treatment that she had actually hoped would conserve her life. When again, her physicians, her family, and now numerous through out the world are heartbroken. Her struggles with weight problems and cautious documentation of the challenges she dealt with touched lots of lives. Her weight problems began a dialogue and social networks banter captured on like wildfire. Some wrote words of empathy, others chose to attempt their stand up funny with vicious, insensitive posts, and a choose few tried to play the blame video game. Dominique Lanoise’s life had actually concerned matter in a way she never ever imagined.
Lanoise’s journey, her fight versus weight problems has actually ended. But the battle versus weight problems lives on in many others and through out the ObesityHelp.com neighborhood. We will remember her fight and the battle lost by those who have actually gone before her.
Rest In Peace Dominique Lanoise
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TLC’s “600 Pound Mother: Race Against Time”, Dominique Lanoise lost her battle with obesity just two weeks after having weight loss surgical treatment.
