Profile: Angela Eastham
Last updated: 03/06/2007
Angela before and after surgery
Angela Eastham's obesity was hiding a problem that could have caused her to lose her life. She was 100 pounds overweight and frequently felt short of breath. After failed attempts at losing weight through diets, Eastham came to Cabell Huntington Hospital's Center for Surgical Weight Control for a jump-start toward changing her lifestyle.
Gastric bypass surgery helped her lose a significant amount of weight, but the real-lifesaver came months later when she continued to experience shortness of breath, and doctors discovered she had an atrial myxoma (a primary tumor) on her heart. The tumor was the size of a golf ball and was preventing her body from getting enough oxygen-rich blood.
"I was on my way out of this world," she said. "I had it for about two years, but I attributed my shortness of breath to being overweight."
Eight months after her gastric bypass, Eastham had open heart surgery to remove the tumor. "Had I not lost those 100 pounds from the surgery, I probably would have never been checked for shortness of breath," she said.
As for the weight loss, Eastham now weighs 153 pounds. At the time of her Dec. 2003 surgery, she weighted 253 pounds.
"Before the surgery, being obese was a big hindrance," she said. "People look at you differently and they treat you differently when you're obese. It's like they think you are a failure."
Eastham began picking up extra weight after her first child was born in 1989 and couldn't keep it off. Now, she exercises regularly and has a better outlook on her life.
"It is certainly a confidence builder," she said. "Things like going to an amusement park are better. Last summer, I was actually able to get on the rollercoaster known as The Beast. It used to be embarrassing to go someplace like that and not be able to fit onto a ride."