He Lost 650 Pounds — And Is Preparing To Shed 100 More

Clocking in at 980 pounds, Paul Mason was once a potential contender for the dubious title of world’s fattest person. But five years ago, Mason lost a whopping 650 pounds after gastric bypass surgery — and between then and now transformed from a bedridden, depressed Briton who was eating himself to death to a vibrant New Englander who is deeply in love.

“When I look back at that person, that 980-pound person who lay in the bed 24/7, just thinking about eating and nothing else, that’s not me,” Mr. Mason told The New York Times. “I don’t want to be that person.” 

But a stubborn reminder of Mason’s obesity still remains: 100 or so pounds of loose skin that hangs from his arms, folds over his belly and thighs, often becomes infected and keeps him in a wheelchair. “It’s like carrying around a couple of children,” Mr. Mason told The Times.

But there’s an end in sight, thanks to a selfless doctor — and her mother: After The Times first wrote about Mason in 2013, Jennifer Capla, a New York City plastic surgeon who specializes in surgery following major weight loss and has treated contestants on “The Biggest Loser,” received a call from her mom saying: “You have to help this man.”

Capla told Mason that if he could get to America, she would preform the skin-removal surgery, free of charge — and the rest, as they say, is about to be history.

Read Paul Mason’s full story at The New York Times.

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