Benefits of bariatric surgery also extend to emotional health

ORELAND, Pa. (WPVI) -- Most talk about bariatric surgery focuses on the benefits for heart health, blood sugar, or cholesterol. But it also has big benefits for emotional health.

Four years ago, Eddie Graham was taking care of his community as president of the Springfield Township, Montgomery County, commissioners and the Cheltenham area NAACP.

But he wasn't taking care of himself.

"I wasn't eating right. Fast food --, just grabbing something to eat," Graham recalls, adding, "I was 408 pounds, my blood pressure was through the roof."

He was stressed, and instead of exercising, he said he would just come home and veg out in front of the TV.

It was a sharp contrast from previous work where he walked a lot.

Realizing he couldn't lose weight and get healthy on his own, Graham connected with Dr. Roshin Thomas, who directs bariatric surgery at Chestnut Hill Hospital.

But first, there was a detour after CT screening for the surgery found a tennis ball-sized cancer on his right kidney.

"I probably would not have lived six months past that CT scan," Graham notes, adding, "Having this surgery literally saved my life."

Once the cancer was dealt with, the Temple team helped him relearn eating to prepare for bariatric surgery.

"By eating a salad, I thought I was being healthy, but I put half a bottle of dressing on it," Graham remembers.

He learned how to do it right, "to address a lifetime of bad eating habits."

"I actually lost 30 pounds," he says.

Dr. Thomas says physical ills are only part of obesity's impact.

"There's a high rate of, like, call-outs and, like, not going to work because they just don't feel well physically, right? Which then takes, like, a mental toll on them," she says.

"They're constantly struggling, and they're not happy in general," she adds.

But Graham says that in communities of color, taking charge of individual health and wellness may seem selfish.

"Other things are more important, like putting food on my table, keeping a roof over my children's heads. Those things take priority over our health. And that has to change," he says emphatically.

He says he felt exceptionally well-cared for at Fox Chase and Temple.

"I just never had a medical group that actually cared and would call me consistently as to how I was doing, making sure that I was going to all of my appointments, making sure that blood tests and appointments were a priority for me," he says.

That care and concern led him to take better care of himself.

During his weight-loss journey, Graham also had a knee replacement, enabling him to get the activity he needed,

Now, 145 pounds lighter, and off blood pressure and stress medications, Graham says he can't serve his family and community unless he's healthy.

"I'm now down to the weight I was in college," he says proudly, "I'm out walking a couple miles a day. I'm out doing things with my wife. That was something I could never do before without sitting down, catching my breath."

Dr. Thomas says being in control of their health has inspired many patients to new careers and family adventures.

"They've changed in a way that they bring, there's a lot of positivity in their life," the doctor says.

Dr. Thomas says once family members see these changes in their loved ones, they often come in to look into bariatric surgery, too.