Page 66 - South Mississippi Living - January, 2017

PHYSICAL & FISCAL FITNESS vertical sleeve gastrectomy Healthy
& FIT Donna Doherty loses weight for
her family with help from South Mississippi Surgical Weight Loss Center
story by Alexis Williams photos courtesy of Donna Doherty
Donna Doherty of Moss Point feels better at 50 than she did in her 30s and 40s. Always an emotional eater, she relied on food to help her deal with the pain of losing her mother to cancer.
Doherty cared for her granddaughter, Avery, during the day while daughter Kayla worked. “I
couldn’t get on the floor and play with her, and it was hard on me,” she said.
When she learned Kayla was expecting her second child, Doherty knew she had to make a change. “I thought, ‘how can I take care of two?’” she wondered.
At 281 pounds, she sought the help of Dr. Pete Avara and South Mississippi Surgical Weight Loss Center. She and Dr. Avara discussed how the surgery would ultimately change her life, and she learned she would have to go through counseling with a dietitian before the procedure to learn how to adjust her diet. Her decision to go through with the surgery was finalized after she and her husband, Alan, took a 30th anniversary trip to Yellowstone National Park.
“I couldn’t walk down the trails or up stairs and see everything,” she said. When she encouraged her husband to go see Mammoth Falls without her because of the steep climb, she sat down and waited for him to return with tears streaming down her face.
“On the way home, I got a call from my insurance that I
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