GoFundMe: Canton Man Who Lost 400 Lbs. Needs Surgery To Remove 40 Lbs. Of Excess Skin
DETROIT (WWJ) - A metro Detroit man who lost 400 pounds is now dealing with another issue: carrying dozens pounds of excess skin on his body.
"It's around my thighs, my arms, my chest. It's all over. There's also a couple of areas on my body where there's fat that's actually detached from my body," said Brian Flemming of Canton.
Flemming used to weigh 625 pounds and drank a fifth of vodka every night.
Thanks to Jackie Eastman, a woman in London who he met through the "Draw Something" smart phone app, he turned his life around in October of 2012. He now weighs 235 pounds, but about 40 of that is excess skin from all the weight loss.
"I do get rashes occasionally and I do have lower back problems as an issue because of the skin. That actually happens because I'm avid runner now. Running long distances for me is very difficult. I have to take some pain killers," said Flemming.
Insurance doesn't cover the surgery to remove that excess skin and fat because it's considered cosmetic, so a GoFundMe page has been set up to raise money to help pay the $22,000 surgery cost.
Despite the problems with the spare skin, Flemming said he prefers that over the life he had before.
"I was always the last one picked for dodgeball in gym class. I couldn't run a mile. I waited until I was 31 to do it but now I'm running half marathons, so I say better late than never," he said.
Flemming continues to work with the Facebook group Team 383. It now has about 11,000 members. He said he and Eastman created the group for people to share their own stories and struggles who went through the same thing he has.
The Canton man said he wants others to know that they can lose weight and not to give up hope. He said it all starts with baby steps: "I just started walking in place for five minutes everyday, and then gradually adding to that."
