Duane Barritt

This is my story

Hi, I am Duane Barritt. I had my LAP-BAND^® procedure on April 6, 2006. Just like everyone else, I had tried every diet there was in the universe: Nutri-system, Jenny Craig, Atkins, the popcorn diet. I tried it all. I always lost the weight and then put it all back on, plus more.

Obesity tends to run in my family, except my dad who weighed only 140 lbs. soaking wet. My mother and brothers and sister were all overweight. My oldest brother weighed 500 lbs at the time of his death and my other brother weigh 350 lbs at his time of death. Both died at 50 years old from congestive heart failure.

As I got near my 50th birthday I started wondering if I would die early too. I knew the odds were that I would not be around to see my 13 and 10 year old daughters grow to be young women. I knew that I needed to do something, but I had given up on dieting. One day my wife came home from work and said some of her coworkers had the LAP-BAND^® surgery. She said they had been successful and her insurance would pay for it.

In February I went my family doctor for my annual check up and weighed in at 296 lbs. I went home and started doing research on the LAP-BAND^®. I found out that this was a minimally invasive surgery with lower risk than bypass and high success rate. I found Fort Worth LAP-BAND^® on the web, and as they say, the rest is history. Since then I have lost 100 lbs. I have dropped from a size 50 pants to a 32-34. I went from a 3 XXL, to a Large Shirt. I even dropped from a double EE in my shoe size to a B width.

I want to thank Dr. Smith and his team for what they did for me. I now have the energy to keep up with my 13 and 10 year old girls and my grandchildren, and now I enjoy life. In conclusion, all I can say is if you can do it, it will be the best thing you can do for yourself. My kids tell me they like the skinny dad better than the old grouchy dad, and that is worth everything to me.