A friend of mine from Jr. High and High School, Miranda Patterson, (some of you remember her has Mandy Knaub), is a Senior Producer for NBC Agency. (They do the pomos for NBC.) She gave my name to the producer of this series, and that's how I became involved. Miranda knew how I had been impacted by Al Roker and his decision to have a gastric bypass.
When The Today Show ran the segment on Al Roker's gastric bypass I realized that the surgery is not a copout. For some of us it is the only thing that will work in losing weight.
My dad called me after that segment ran and said "Hey Jode, have you see that Al Roker lately?? Isn't he looking good? Have you thought about that surgery for yourself?" I had, but was not ready. The segment did help me to start taking it seriously.
6 months before surgery
6 months after surgery
150 pound weight loss