He could not stand for more than 15 minutes, and his ministry work suffered. His lumbar discs were rubbing together, and he developed sciatic nerve pain as well as upper back pain from compensating for the lower back. He reached a turning point at age 19 – he turned his life over to God and gave up the medicine and drinking.Īs the years went on, Rigo became a minister, got married and started a family, all while enduring excruciating pain. Resorting to painkillers and alcohol, he became addicted. Rigoberto “Rigo” Ramirez, 16 at the time, felt numb at times from the pain, but doctors told him surgery would not relieve the pain. It all started with broken discs and cracked vertebrae from football injuries in high school. Watch this video to learn more about Rachel's successful weight-loss transformation. As a result, Rachel decided to have gastric sleeve surgery. She felt unhappy with herself, so she attended a weight-loss seminar at the South Texas Health System Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery Center. Rachel was extremely overweight, did not have any energy, and could not do the things she wanted to with her children. “Everybody's story is different,” Guerra-Navarro says. She considers the surgery a tool that helped retrain her brain, and she cautions those in a similar position against comparing themselves to others.

You know, one day I hope to have grandkids and be able to chase them around.” It's more about your health and being able to get up tomorrow and have that zest for life to do more things. “Now I look at what I eat and I exercise daily. I didn’t care about energy or anything,” Navarro says. The near-death experience, and a renewed drive to be around for her family, is what keeps her motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle post-surgery, which includes walking from seven to 10 miles a day. Guerra-Navarro counts herself lucky to have been given a second chance at life. “When I almost died in the hospital because of my diabetes, I realized my kids needed me,” she says. Two years before her surgery, she went septic from a diabetic ulcer and had to be hospitalized for two months. “I had very bad A1C levels and was on insulin twice daily.” “The weight being off is a total plus, but the main thing is I no longer need insulin,” she says. Since having a sleeve gastrectomy in August 2019 at South Texas Health System Heart, she has shed more than 200 pounds and no longer needs medication. Guerra-Navarro's boost in energy is a result of her weight-loss transformation. “I have way too much energy now compared to before.” Instead, her kids can’t keep pace with her! “I’m just excited to get up every day,” she says. She may be 48 years old, but Yvonne Guerra-Navarro doesn’t struggle to keep up with her children.

The experience has inspired her to promote healthy living to her children, as well as the students she works with as a social work professor. Mayra Reyes, who struggled with weight most of her life, opted to have bariatric weight loss surgery at the South Texas Health System Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery Center in March 2021, to improve her health and better her lifestyle.

Comprendiendo La Insuficiencia Cardíaca.

The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses.

Gastric bypass patient success story