Super-sized success story

Posted on 13 March 2014

At 140kg, Selwyn Smith is half the man he used to be – literally. Thanks to life-changing weight-loss surgery, he’s got his health – and life – back!

‘I’m still the same person; just there’s a lot less of me,’ chuckles Selwyn Smith, the once super-sized police detective from Boshof in the Free State. ‘And I can honestly say that if it wasn’t for Dr Heyns and his team, I’d be a dead man.’ Selwyn’s not being overly dramatic when he makes a sweeping statement like that. His weight loss surgery literally saved his life, especially when you consider that in 2008, aged 32 and just before going under the knife, he weighed in – on a freight scale – at a whopping 290kg.

‘My life has changed dramatically for the best. I’ve lost 150kg and without all that weight, my health’s improved drastically. I can do all the things I want to – from playing with the family and actually going to work and achieving there, to once again being able to do the sports I love,’ he says. ‘I believe I progressed so well because my mind was right from the start, and I had an amazing team helping me achieve my goals from day one.’

He began his weight-loss journey with Dr Geofré Heyns, surgical head of the Bariatric Unit at Mediclinic Bloemfontein, in 2007. ‘It seems like a lifetime ago,’ he says. ‘I think I was the worst patient Dr Heyns had ever seen! When I first went to see him, he couldn’t even weigh me because his scales didn’t go high enough. I was at an all-time low. My weight not only stopped me from doing the things that I loved – golf, league fishing and playing sports – but it also limited the things I could do with my daughter, who was a toddler at the time. It had also started to affect my work. I’m a police detective I have a hands-on job – we’re expected to move about our area freely, going from scene to scene. I used to be able to drive myself but, as the weight crept on, I had to be driven where I needed to go. It eventually got so bad, just before they moved me to a desk job, I was riding to crime scenes in the back of the vehicle where they normally put the criminals! In the end, I was so big that I couldn’t even do the desk job because I couldn’t sit in one place for too long – or even walk too far. It really started to eat away who I was as a human being.’

Selwyn had sought specialist help for his weight in 2005, but his turning point came when he went fishing with friends one weekend in 2006. ‘My friends are great and really supportive, but I endured a lot of teasing,’ he explains. ‘Then, on this one fishing trip, we were sitting next to the dam when a friend turned to me and asked what I planned to do about my weight. And, I must admit, I was gatvol. I felt hopeless. Then he told me about this doctor in Bloemfontein (it turned out to be Dr Heyns), who could give me surgical help. I started researching bariatric surgery and sought the good doctor out.’

Selwyn’s view of such a drastic weight loss solution is down to earth and he says: ‘Change must be your decision. I used to laugh the insults from other people off, but in time, they really broke me down as a human being. Before you find a doctor that can help you, you need to get your mind right and get it strong – you could be walking this path for two years or more, so you must really want the change. This surgery’s not for sissies!’

The doctor’s perspective
‘I first met Selwyn in September of 2007, as a young man on a downward spiral,’ says Dr Geofré Heyns. ‘He’s a big man; at 1,92m he weighed 290kg, was depressed, had sleep apnea and his body mass index was more than 50. He was what we call morbid-morbid obese and bariatric surgery was his very last chance of regaining a normal life.’

Dr Heyns believes bariatric surgery isn’t a ‘magic solution’. He explains: ‘We don’t de-gut people for fun here. This surgery is certainly not a game; it’s radical and comes with its own set of risks, but it offers people hope and the chance to regain their self-esteem. It contributes to change your health and lifestyle, and those changes themselves become the motivation to continue on the weight loss journey.’

The team Selwyn worked with consisted of a psychologist, physician, cardiologist, endocrinologist, dietician and the bariatric surgeon, and it took about six months for them to prepare him for surgery. Dr Heyns says: ‘We ran every test available to try and find a reason for Selwyn’s obesity, but couldn’t detect anything wrong so he was an ideal candidate for surgery.’

The uphill battle
Selwyn’s life changed on a Thursday in July 2008 when Dr Heyns performed a reduction and bypass procedure. ‘Selwyn got the “Rolls Royce” because, for him, surgery really was a last resort,’ says Dr Heyns. The operation went well and he spent two days in high care.

‘Dr Heyns is a very careful doctor and was like a father to me during my recovery. You realise how bad things really are when you lay there before an operation, worrying that you may not wake up,’ says Selwyn. And he’s quick to point out that an immense life change like he’s had makes everything worthwhile. ‘I’ve got my life back!’

A lite future
Today Selwyn’s lost 150kg and is one of the lucky ones as he’s medication-free. ‘I’m as strong as an ox and a fighter,’ he says. ‘I still have a bit of a boepie but I’m a boertjie!’

Selwyn lost around 25kg a month, which tapered off, and he had to have plastic surgeries in 2010 and 2013 to remove excess skin on his stomach and thighs, as ‘my stomach hung down by my knees. I had to change my wardrobe every second month’. But he wouldn’t change a thing.

Fat, not happy
Selwyn knows exactly which pressures obese people face every day. He also knows what’s in store for candidates considering this radical last resort.
What was the most surprising part about your weight loss?
Everyone tells you the weight will just fall off, and it does. But you don’t realise how much the surgery changes how your body works so it can lose the weight. When you come out of surgery, they teach you how – and what – to eat to suit what the surgery’s left you with. And once you get better and stronger, of course you start to think you can slip into your old patterns and eat everyday food, but you can’t. If you eat too fast or too much – especially sugary foods or carbohydrates – your body will react with something called a ‘dump’ which klaps you like a train and you can be sick for days as your body tries to balance itself again. I’m as strong as an ox, but this surgery has a way of reminding you what you’ve been through in the weirdest ways.

We also asked Dr Geofré Heyns what, in his mind, constitutes a successful surgical weight loss patient?
My team and I view patients like Selwyn as success stories. There will always be candidates who will endure this surgery and lose the weight, but in the longer term will regain what they’ve lost. We believe that a patient who has lost 50% of the excess of ideal weight and maintained that weight for 10 years as a success.

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