When she took her 6-year-old son to the park to play, Kim Randall would have to watch from her car. The pain and stress of weighing more than 535 pounds was simply too much for her to bear.
“Weighing that much is so constantly painful. Not being able to move around, go to school functions, worrying about the weight capacity of a chair, or having a steering wheel or seatbelt cutting into me,” said the 34-year-old Upper Yoder resident. “All of that just added up to continuous pain and agony.”
Kim knew what she had to do. But she couldn’t do it alone. That’s when she reached out to Dr. D’Arcy Duke, director of the Western Pennsylvania Bariatric Institute, part of the Conemaugh Health System. She wanted to have gastric-bypass weight-loss surgery.
“Looking back, I won’t sugar coat it. There’s no magic wand. It basically takes great commitment and lots of hard work,” said Kim, who is 5-foot, 7-inches tall.
“Going the route I chose was really difficult, but it was relatively short-lived. It was either that or continue to live lifelong – and life-threatening – obesity,” she said.
“My choice was obvious. And Doctor Duke and her team helped to make it happen. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears. But, wow, was it ever worth it.”
In preparation for the November 2023 gastric bypass, Kim followed a strict seven-month program during which she lost nearly 100 pounds. She weighed 445 pounds on the day of her surgery.
The gastric bypass isn’t an easy fix, she said, but it was a tool that “entirely transformed my life.” Keeping the weight off, she said, has revolved around closely tracking caloric intake; committing to ongoing, strenuous exercise; and “promising that I’ll never, ever return to the lifestyle that made me so big in the first place.”
Kim now weighs 224 pounds – or about 315 pounds less than before.
“I’ve shed the equivalent of two people. So much has changed; big and little things. I'm able to do small things that most people take for granted, like walking without crying in pain, cleaning my house and walking my dog,” Kim said. “I realize what a blessing I’ve received. The pain and suffering are all gone.”
Kim cringes when she thinks back on how things used to be. She felt the heavy weight of people’s stares and judgment when she weighed more than 535 pounds. As a result, she became a recluse.
The staring and gawking have ended with her dramatic weight loss. She now enjoys going to the gym for weightlifting, driving to Altoona or Greensburg to shop, and “running around like crazy after my rambunctious 7-year-old son.”
While friends, loved ones and neighbors all congratulate Kim on the weight loss, her metamorphosis has been far more than simply physical.
“It has transformed my energy level, my personality, and the way I come across and present myself. It’s changed everything,” she said with a big smile.
“For so long, my life was so stressful and painful. Now, it’s so wonderful. I can’t put a price tag on it. It’s beyond my wildest dreams.”
Her thoughts frequently drift back to Dr. Duke and her team at the Conemaugh Health System. Kim has convinced her sister, brother-in-law and a friend to seek Dr. Duke’s help.
“Through Doctor Duke and her team, I basically came face-to-face with the health and mental issues that caused me to become super-big,” she said. “I confronted all those issues with a great deal of nutritional and psychological help.
“They were as gentle, compassionate and kind as possible in helping me to face some extremely difficult issues. Saying they are amazing isn’t nearly enough. They made my transformation as easy as possible. In fact, they made it all possible.”