Patrick Deuel
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Patrick Deuel (born 28 March 1962), also known as the Half Ton Man, is a morbidly obese man from Nebraska.
Deuel is a former restaurant manager; at one point, he had not left his house, or even his bed, in 7 years. He stands at 5'9 (175 centimeters) . At one point he weighed 1,072 pounds; at the time, the only scale that could be used to weigh him was a livestock scale. He was taken out of his home via crane, after crews removed a wall of his home in Valentine, and rushed to Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota via a special ambulance with extra-wide doors that had to be dispatched from Denver. His current method of weight loss is a supervised 1200 calorie/day diet; he also had gastric bypass surgery.
Deuel's weight loss and surgical care have been overseen by Dr. Fred Harris. Avera McKennan Hospital has had to cover at least part of the costs of Deuel's treatment, which has caused some controversy.
In 2005, he was featured on the United States television network, TLC, in a program entitled Half Ton Man, also shown in the UK on Channel 4 in February 2006. It chronicled his fight with obesity, and the heartaches he endured while clinging to life. He lost half his weight in a matter of months with an emergency diet, which was featured on the show. His wife Edith is also obese, but not to his extent; she has decided to pursue gastric bypass surgery as well. According to Half Ton Man, weight problems had inhibited the Deuels from ever consummating their marriage — but their dedication to one another is strong nonetheless.
On March 7, 2006, Deuel underwent surgery in South Dakota to remove a mass of fat and skin that was hanging from his midsection (panniculus), making it hard for him to walk. He lost 81 pounds, and now weighs about 400 pounds. [1]
Deuel is also a born-again Christian and has stated his faith in Jesus has given him inspiration and that others have "kept him in their prayers." [2].
During the television program, Deuel composed and performed a song with the following lyrics:
"I love my sweetie, my sweetie is Edie. I love her for life because she's my new wife."
