Patrick Brown and his family believe he has one hope for living a long, normal life, and that’s to receive treatment for the morbidly obese at a special out-of-state clinic.
“We want him to be able to live his life,” cousin Tonja Medlock said.
But a lot stands in his way — namely money.
All Brown, 32, has in the way of insurance is Medicaid, and it is limited in what it can provide. There is little other money elsewhere besides his small monthly disability stipend and food stamp vouchers.
Brown is almost completely confined to his house in south McComb.
His weight, which he says is near 700 pounds, makes any trip outdoors or in a vehicle nearly impossible — either it’s too physically exhausting or he just can’t face the attention he would undoubtedly receive.
The only time he has left the house in recent history has been for emergency trips to the hospital to address his breathing difficulty and a wound on his leg, likely festered by long periods of inactivity, that’s been a recurring problem.
“It’s a big deal for me to get out of the house,” Brown said.
However, Brown feels his health is increasingly getting worse, so much so it brought him to tears when he was asked about it recently. Over the last month both legs have pained him so much he’s been confined to bed. Plus, his income seems to be shrinking.
Brown said he’s ready to live again so he can hold a job that will sustain him, his girlfriend and their two children.
If he doesn’t get help soon, a chance for a normal life may be lost and he could die, he said.
“I’m tired of living like this,” Brown said.
His only hope, he said, is an intensive obesity treatment from a special clinic.
Weight loss icon Richard Simmons agrees. Over the past year or so, Brown has been in contact with Simmons through e-mail and as a periodic caller on Simmons’ satellite radio show “Lighten up with Richard Simmons.”
Simmons said in a phone interview he refers people like Brown to one of two facilities in New York that are specifically set up to address rehabilitation from morbid obesity.
Simmons said an obesity clinic can overhaul Brown’s nutritional habits, oversee physical therapy and begin to heal Brown’s downtrodden spirit, all of which Simmons said must happen in order Brown to get on the right track.
“He needs three out of three,” Simmons said.
The problem is that Medicaid will not fund such a trip and there are no such treatment centers in Mississippi. Medicaid also does not fund gastric bypass surgeries, which has emerged as popular option for the obese to dramatically reduce weight.
Health woes
Since the beginning of the year, Brown has been taken to the hospital via ambulance twice for chest pains, breathing difficulty and other issues. The latest trip was in June, when he was treated for high blood pressure and an infected spot on his leg where a boil had previously burst.
His previous visit, around March, took care of the boil and addressed his chest pains. He said he received medication to treat his high blood pressure, but other treatment, such as a breathing pump, he could not afford.
Each visit, however, Brown said he left the hospital feeling like just a Band-Aid was applied to his problems. He and his family hope treatment at an obesity center is possible.
“If I hit the lottery today, that’s what I would do,” said Patrick’s aunt, Sherry Brown, who lives in Alexandria, Va., and calls him about three times a week to encourage him to eat right.
Mississippi Medicaid Director of Communications Francis Rullan said there’s no way the agency can afford to fund trips to obesity clinics or gastric bypass surgeries.
He said under Gov. Haley Barbour’s direction, the state agency has moved toward a more preventive strategy regarding obesity, which according to a recent report affects 30 percent of adults in the state.
Rullan said Medicaid is not at fault for the treatment it can’t cover. The problem, he said, is a breakdown in society regarding basic health habits.
Medicaid may, however, pay for some of Brown’s other medical needs, provided they’re handled through a plan of care by his doctor, Rullan said.
But the only doctors Brown has are the ones he’s seen at the emergency room, and he said he’s had difficulty getting in touch with them.
That leaves him stuck, and he believes he’s running out of time. So do his relatives.
“If somebody called and told me he was dead tomorrow, that wouldn’t surprise me,” said Medlock, who lives in Maryland.
Simmons says if help from a treatment center is not available, people like Brown still should do all they can. Simmons said the overweight should only eat nutritious food, and when that’s not accessible through food stamps or other government assistance, they should solicit help from food banks and other charitable organizations.
“It’s (about) trying to help them find the encouragement and resources to keep going,” Simmons said.
He said Brown and others like him have to be accountable for their betterment.
“You can’t just sit in bed and say, ‘Well, somebody help me,’ ” Simmons said.
Simmons said Brown should surround himself with people who have his best interests at heart.
Always overweight
Brown’s weight has always been an issue, though when he was growing up it wasn’t as debilitating as it has become.
Money was always tight around his family’s house. His father, Jerry Brown, said the most he and his wife Pearl could do was reinforce healthy eating habits and regular exercise.
“Guess it was just too hard for him,” his dad said.
However, Simmons wondered how helpful his family has been over the years as they’ve watched him grow to 700 pounds.
“Have they been enablers all this time?” he asked.
The only time Brown ever had a job was at age 16 when he worked in a McComb schools summer program landscaping school grounds and cleaning classrooms. Ever since then he said his weight has sidelined him from making a living. And he said diets have never worked.
Brown said the past five or six years, his weight has really gotten out of hand. About two years ago, he and Medlock started writing for help to talk show hosts like Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Phil and Simmons.
Simmons said he discussed healthy habits and tried to lift Brown’s spirits when Brown called in to the show.
“I’m trying to get him hopeful,” Simmons said.
Simmons said he can’t afford to sponsor every case that comes his way because he receives hundreds of requests each week. But he already bought Brown clothes and tried to work with his social worker.
“I wish I could do more,” he said, adding there may be someone local or a group that can help Brown.
He said across the country obesity is at epidemic levels, and surely Patrick isn’t the only case of morbid obesity in McComb.
Social humiliation
Brown says he has never been able to take the teasing and taunts he has received over the years.
“People say I should be used to it by now, but it cuts like a razor every time,” he said.
He said his trips to the hospital via ambulance can turn into unwanted public spectacles.
“It was a circus. Everybody was a spectator,” Brown said, referring to a recent trip when paramedics were left helpless to assist him into the ambulance.
His stays at the hospital are no treat, mainly because the hospital is not equipped to handle him. On his last two trips, hospital personnel had to construct a special wooden chair for him, and he was told not use his room’s restroom because hospital staff feared the toilet would not hold him.
At home, people sometimes take advantage of him. More than once he has given money to folks to bring back food, only to never see the money again. He said he has contemplated suicide as well.
Brown said the constant ridicule he faced at school was one of the reasons he dropped out as a senior. He said there was always someone cracking jokes wherever he went. The last two years he’d eat lunch by the office to avoid teasing.
Other than hospital visits, the last time Patrick went out in public was in 2005 for a family reunion at Percy Quin State Park. He said he weighed around 500 pounds then. Though he never left the vehicle after arriving, relatives dropped by the car, and he said it was one of the nicer times he’s had.
“It was wonderful to see them,” he said.
But a trip like that is rare.
He’s always at home.
At home
Inside Brown’s house, his children are often under his watchful eye. They don’t seem to mind his immobility. Nicholas, 4, and Nykria, 2, are often jumping around Patrick as he sits in his living room bed. Fans constantly whirl because his air conditioner has been broken since Hurricane Katrina.
Before his legs began giving him problems, Brown said he could get around his house without much difficulty for light chores and cooking, and he tried to do light exercises regularly. But recently all of that has ceased.
For meals, he says he has cut out sodas and tries to eat within limits, avoiding breads and salty foods.
To pass the time, Brown reads, writes in a journal, watches television and tends to his kids. Family members come and go. He says his girlfriend of about five years, Brittney Young, is a big supporter.
“He thinks about everyone else before he thinks of himself. He’s a wonderful person,” Young said.
She usually brings food to the house and helps with cleaning. His parents come to help out at the house. But his mother, Pearl, is limited by cancer, Brown says.
“His parents, they love him to pieces, but they just don’t have anything financially,” Medlock said.
Brown’s father said he wants the best for his son, but he is frustrated over his lack of discipline in eating right and exercising. He admitted that the solution for Patrick is now more complex than that.
Sherry just wants her nephew to live his life. “He’s not living; he’s in the house. His life is just dwindling away. I feel so sad for him,” she said.
To contact Patrick or offer assistance, e-mail Tonja Medlock at nicebubble@hotmail.com.
