In 2017 he ended up in the Guinness Book of Records, after being recognized as the most obese living person in the world. Juan Pedro Franco died on Christmas Eve, December 24, from a kidney infection followed by systemic complications. The 41-year-old was trying to lose weight (and succeeded).
The news of his death was announced by José Antonio Castaneda, as reported by the editorial staff of Daily Mailthe doctor who treated him. The death occurred in a hospital in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico. Frank he had reached a weight of almost 600 kilogramsbut in recent years he had managed to lose weight, losing about half of it; he was trying to change his life, to put extreme obesity behind him – according to science, obesity is irreversible on a brain level.
The scales reached over 590 kg, the excessive weight made him unable to move independently and forced him to bed for years. So, together with Doctor Castaneda, he had undertaken a specific path to lose weight quicklybetween the Mediterranean diet (rich in fruit and vegetables) and two bariatric surgeries, a sleeve gastrectomy and, finally, a gastric bypass. This combined treatment had allowed him to shed almost half of his weight and walk again after years of immobility.
Major strides have kept him clear of cardiovascular fatigue and diabetes-related complications, yet Franco has remained vulnerable due to his long history of obesity. Moreover, in 2020 he also contracted Covid and managed to survivedespite his medical history classifying him as extremely high risk. Castaneda described it as one of the most complex cases he has ever handled.
“My body went its own way without any control. I tried to diet day after day, but nothing worked, I was desperate“, said Franco, who had found hope again with the weight loss program.”Just being able to lift your arms, get up every day, pull yourself up to drink a glass of water or go to the bathroom, makes you feel great. It’s great to be able to move more and be more self-sufficient”.
A similar fate befell Jon Brower Minnoch, the American who long held the record as the heaviest person ever documented, with its maximum weight of 635 kg. After suffering heart and respiratory failure, as well as serious health complications over the years, he died in 1983, still 41 years old.
Without forgetting the story of Manuel Uribe, another Mexican who he had exceeded 550 kg in weight and who, despite having managed to lose a lot of weight, died at the age of 48, in 2014, from liver failure resulting from a chronic disease linked to obesity.
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