CLEVELAND -- A father promised he would do anything to stay alive for his kids.
NewsChannel5's Lee Jordan reported that he went to drastic steps to make his transformation.
Video
Man Wants Excess Skin Removed
"You must feel like a completely new person," Jordan said.
"Oh yeah, I've totally reclaimed my life," Max Sprague said.
Sprague, 41, has been reborn into a new life, but he still carries the baggage of a miserable past.
SLIDESHOWS: Max's Transition | MORE PICS
"OK, a lot of sagging skin," Sprague said.
You can see the sagging skin all over his body. Sprague once weighed 607 pounds. He lost more than 340 pounds.
"I have probably lost 10 people over the years. One of those things -- gain it, lose it, never lose it all," Sprague said.
Even as a child, Sprague was a big guy. He was debilitated by lupus and migraines. By college, his weight had climbed to over 400 pounds.
His wife, Darlene, saw more than his weight when she met him.
"Oh his looks, big brown eyes, big heart, sense of humor -- I tell everybody it's my charming personality and award-winning smile," Darlene Sprague said.
Darlene and Max built a life together and had three children. But that life became defined by his spiraling weight and declining health.
"No camping, no summer vacations, no amusement parks, no nothing. Our life was here, and that was it," Sprague said.
"I couldn't walk from a car to the house without taking a break. Going to the bathroom, not far away, I'd be winded when I'd get in there. I'd sleep in the chair because I couldn't walk to the bed."
A heart attack and leg sores that wouldn't heal brought Sprague to a life-or-death decision.
"I had circulation problems with my leg. It got so bad I had sores on the back of my leg. So big, they actually talked about cutting my leg off," he said.
"I felt helpless, there was nothing could do to help him. The whole family was watching him die," Darlene said.
I looked at my youngest son and said, 'I'm not going to be here when you graduate from high school and I want to be," Sprague said.
After first losing 100 pounds, Sprague had gastric bypass surgery just before his 40th birthday. His extreme obesity made him a very high-risk patient.
That was probably the scariest decision we ever made. So scary, the morning of the surgery she tried to talk me out of it. We were both so scared," Sprague said.
In fact, Sprague nearly died after the surgery, Jordan said. He was in intensive care for a month. He had blood clots in his lungs and his kidneys were shutting down. Finally, recovery progressed and hundreds of pounds started melting away.
A year and a half later, Sprague has shed more than 340 pounds. And his loss is a whole family's gain.
"Instead of sitting at home doing nothing, we have a life again. We both have a life. we can go dancing, we can do a lot of things," Sprague said.
Everything is not resolved yet. Sprague is still carrying an uncomfortable and unsightly remnant of all that fat.
"Saggy skin -- I've got acres of it," he said. After you lose 300 pounds, that skin has stretched so much and lost so much elasticity, it's gonna hang," Sprague said.
NewsChannel5 arranged a consultation with plastic surgeon Mark Foglietti.
"My next priority would be come over here, tighten arm. I would do both arms and then next a thigh lift," Foglietti said.
"I would not say he is unhealthy, but there is a definite psychological component."
It would take multiple surgeries over a year's time to get rid of all that sagging skin. Plus it would cost $50,000 to $60,000, most of it not covered by insurance.
How much Sprague will be able to take on is still a big question.
"This will make me physically complete. I already had the rest," Sprague said.
NewsChannel5's Lee Jordan reported that he went to drastic steps to make his transformation.
Video
Man Wants Excess Skin Removed
"You must feel like a completely new person," Jordan said.
"Oh yeah, I've totally reclaimed my life," Max Sprague said.
Sprague, 41, has been reborn into a new life, but he still carries the baggage of a miserable past.
SLIDESHOWS: Max's Transition | MORE PICS
"OK, a lot of sagging skin," Sprague said.
You can see the sagging skin all over his body. Sprague once weighed 607 pounds. He lost more than 340 pounds.
"I have probably lost 10 people over the years. One of those things -- gain it, lose it, never lose it all," Sprague said.
Even as a child, Sprague was a big guy. He was debilitated by lupus and migraines. By college, his weight had climbed to over 400 pounds.
His wife, Darlene, saw more than his weight when she met him.
"Oh his looks, big brown eyes, big heart, sense of humor -- I tell everybody it's my charming personality and award-winning smile," Darlene Sprague said.
Darlene and Max built a life together and had three children. But that life became defined by his spiraling weight and declining health.
"No camping, no summer vacations, no amusement parks, no nothing. Our life was here, and that was it," Sprague said.
"I couldn't walk from a car to the house without taking a break. Going to the bathroom, not far away, I'd be winded when I'd get in there. I'd sleep in the chair because I couldn't walk to the bed."
A heart attack and leg sores that wouldn't heal brought Sprague to a life-or-death decision.
"I had circulation problems with my leg. It got so bad I had sores on the back of my leg. So big, they actually talked about cutting my leg off," he said.
"I felt helpless, there was nothing could do to help him. The whole family was watching him die," Darlene said.
I looked at my youngest son and said, 'I'm not going to be here when you graduate from high school and I want to be," Sprague said.
After first losing 100 pounds, Sprague had gastric bypass surgery just before his 40th birthday. His extreme obesity made him a very high-risk patient.
That was probably the scariest decision we ever made. So scary, the morning of the surgery she tried to talk me out of it. We were both so scared," Sprague said.
In fact, Sprague nearly died after the surgery, Jordan said. He was in intensive care for a month. He had blood clots in his lungs and his kidneys were shutting down. Finally, recovery progressed and hundreds of pounds started melting away.
A year and a half later, Sprague has shed more than 340 pounds. And his loss is a whole family's gain.
"Instead of sitting at home doing nothing, we have a life again. We both have a life. we can go dancing, we can do a lot of things," Sprague said.
Everything is not resolved yet. Sprague is still carrying an uncomfortable and unsightly remnant of all that fat.
"Saggy skin -- I've got acres of it," he said. After you lose 300 pounds, that skin has stretched so much and lost so much elasticity, it's gonna hang," Sprague said.
NewsChannel5 arranged a consultation with plastic surgeon Mark Foglietti.
"My next priority would be come over here, tighten arm. I would do both arms and then next a thigh lift," Foglietti said.
"I would not say he is unhealthy, but there is a definite psychological component."
It would take multiple surgeries over a year's time to get rid of all that sagging skin. Plus it would cost $50,000 to $60,000, most of it not covered by insurance.
How much Sprague will be able to take on is still a big question.
"This will make me physically complete. I already had the rest," Sprague said.
