Like Father, Like Daughter:
Together, a Daughter and Her Dad Seek a Surgical Solution to Obesity
HOUSTON–(June 14, 2007)–Last year, Claire Henderson made a pact with her father. She would make a permanent commitment to overcome obesity if he set the same goals to lose weight and get healthy.
James and Claire Henderson, a father-daughter weight-loss
team - after their lap-band surgery. Claire, age 16, already
has lost more than 110 pounds.
(Photo courtesy of the Henderson Family.)
Together, the Claire and her father, James Henderson, had struggled with their weight almost from the time she was born.
James jokes that his ballooning waistline was really a long-lasting sympathetic pregnancy he developed when his wife was pregnant with Claire. “Claire was just trying to keep up with me,” he reasons. “She was overweight all her life.”
James knew it wasn’t healthy that he and his little girl were both so heavy. He did extensive research and spent thousands of dollars enrolling them in all sorts of weight-loss programs – from healthy cooking classes to “fat camp” – but nothing ever produced lasting results.
Claire was 15 and 320 pounds when she decided it was time to help her dad come up with a solution that would transform them both into thinner, healthier people.
In between her schoolwork, she began to research weight-loss surgery. The lap-band procedure, to her, seemed like the best option. She liked the idea of an adjustable gastric band designed to help lose excess body weight and improve weight-related health conditions. She also liked that the lap-band procedure was less invasive than a gastric bypass that requires intestinal re-routing.
Claire did homework on Houston-area surgeons and took her dad to information sessions to learn more about weight-loss procedures and the physicians who offer them. When she met Terry Scarborough, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, she knew she’d found the right doctor to help her and her dad kick obesity once and for all.
On June 20, 2006 – two days after Father’s Day – Claire became one of Scarborough’s youngest patients to have the lap-band procedure. “It took a lot of guts for Claire to do this,” James Henderson says. “She jumped in the battle and really forced my hand.”
James, a real estate developer, was almost 400 pounds. He knew he needed to hold up his end of the bargain – even if that meant undergoing a psychiatry evaluation and a colonoscopy as part of the pre-surgery screening requirements. He needed to do this for his oldest daughter. He needed to do this for his entire family.
“I wanted him to get the surgery because I want him to live longer and see me grow up,” says Claire, now 16.
Four months ago, Scarborough performed James’ lap-band surgery at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. “Within the first week, I had my diabetes under control,” James said. “That alone was worth the price of admission.”
James, 50, is gradually losing weight and ultimately wants to lose “two feed bags,” or 150 pounds. His daughter has already lost more than 110 pounds. “It’s good on the other side,” Claire says.
They credit Scarborough and the lap band for their success, but they admit the support they provide one another is just as important in keeping them on the straight and narrow.
“When you go through this together, you have somebody watching you,” Claire said. That means her dad is watching if she’s tempted to pop a frozen sandwich into the microwave and then into her mouth. And Claire is looking out for her dad, making sure he doesn’t go back to his old habits of overeating and smoking cigars.
Claire’s younger sister, Holly, also pitches in to make sure they are all getting enough exercise. And Claire’s mother, Anne, keeps track of all the medical details and makes sure Claire and James get to their follow-up appointments.
Scarborough said family support is critical to long-term weight loss. In his practice at the UT Bariatric Surgery Center, about a third of all patients have more than one family member who has also decided to have weight-loss surgery.
“There is a cycle of obesity,” Scarborough says. “Families who struggle with obesity share the same eating habits and have a genetic predisposition. If one family member succeeds in losing weight and adopting a healthy lifestyle – that really motivates the others.”
Scarborough said he is impressed by Claire’s motivation to take control of her health and also inspire her father to lose weight. “One of the main reasons she’s done so well is because she is so disciplined,” Scarborough points out. “She knows what she wants. She is responsible, and she’s compliant. That spirit, that attitude, rubs off on her dad.”
This Father’s Day, Claire and James will celebrate their weight loss as “a couple of lap-banders.” “Obviously we won’t be going to any all-you-can-eat buffets,” Claire quips. Instead they will support each other and carry on a friendly competition to see who can lose the most weight and keep it off.
“I think we’re all going to live a little longer because of this,” James said.