Marla hasn’t stepped on a scale in five years but it was estimated that her weight was at 800 pounds. If she doesn’t find the encouragement to at least stand up, her days will surely be missed. Marla’s weight spiraled out of control after she was kidnapped by an ex-boyfriend and held hostage.
When viewers first met Marla McCants, from Nashville, Tennessee, on last night’s season finale of My 600lb Life, doctors determined that she was only months – maybe even weeks – from dying. And even after a lengthy hospital stay and gastric bypass surgery, the 43-year-old still refused to let medical professionals help her stand up – and, in doing so, save her life.
Marla’s recovery seemed like a hopeless cause until it dawned on the mother-of-three that this was her last shot. If she didn’t get up, she would spend the rest of her very short life bedridden.
Because she was unable to get out of bed, she had to call an ambulance to transport her to her daughter’s car where she sat for the entire 13 hour drive.
Marla and her daughter Sierra moved to Houston, Texas, so she could she could work with weight loss expert Dr Younan Nowzaradan, but following her surgery and a lengthy stay in the hospital, she was discharged because of her lack of cooperation.
And the trip almost killed her. A blood clot that had formed in her leg after years of not moving dislodged during the trip and traveled to her lung.
By the time she got to the hospital in Houston, her health was rapidly declining.
“She is in the worst condition health wise that I have ever seen,” Dr. Nowzaradan said…
…noting that she should have never traveled to Houston at her size.
The surgeon had all but given up on Marla until he received an impassioned call from Sierra, begging him to come to her apartment and convince her mom to get up once and for all.
Dr Nowzaradan made the house call and requested emergency medical technicians come to the apartment to help Marla stand for the first time in years.
To help manage her weight, she was placed on a 1,000-calories-a-day diet and had gastric bypass surgery.
With the help of a walker, the EMTs and Dr. Nowzaradan’s support, Marla was able to stand for a few seconds. And, although brief, this short moment gave her enough confidence to try and stand again, essentially changing the direction of her recovery for the better.
“Getting up and standing was one of the most encouraging things I’ve done and now I don’t want to stop,” Marla told the cameras after she lifted herself out of bed for the first time in years.
A year after she started her journey, Marla was able to stand on a scale for the first time in five years, clocking in at 534lbs, a 266 pound weight loss.
“It took me a while to get here, but now nothing is going to stop me,” she said.
