Gastric banding surgery is a procedure that decreases
the size of the stomach.
And because it's not FDA-approved for children
in this country, Jennifer took her 13-year-old daughter Cassie
to Mexico.
Cassie tipped the scales at more than 200 pounds four years ago.
This is Cassie today.
Now, recently, they took us back to the clinic in Tijuana.
Look.
Right now, we're going to be leaving
San Diego, going to Tijuana, which is across the border.
In the United States, there's no other options
for these children.
No doctor would touch her.
It was the first time I ever went into Mexico.
When we went in, you could totally tell the way
that everything was down there.
It was not like you would see over here.
It was scary.
I was thinking, wow.
You know, I don't mean to be mean or anything, but it's--
just the way things looked, it wasn't so modern.
And I was just scared, scared.
Just kept thinking, is this the right decision?
Is it the right decision?
Why not wait a couple of years?
For Cassie?
She's putting weight on so rapidly every month.
It was between 5 to 8 pounds a month.
And we don't-- as active as she was, we don't know
where the weight was coming.
It was frustrating.
My biggest fear was mentally that Cassie would crash,
that she'd become depressed.
She'd eat because of the depression.
She'd stopped sports.
She'd stopped being who she was.
These two girls, they would come up to me and say, oh--
because they're starting to get, like,
little boyfriends and stuff.
And they'd be like, oh, you're just--
no boys are interested in you, and stuff like that.
And it was hard.
And I won't forget it.
She came home, and she said, the girls said, the way you look,
you won't get a boyfriend.
I'll never forget those words.
Because you're a mom, you want to fix everything for them.
You want to protect them and do what's right for them.
And I know this was major.
But in my heart, I felt I was doing the right thing for her.
Hi.
I remember the doctors were great.
They put me on the table.
And I remember there was this guy, and he was rubbing my face
and talking to me in Spanish.
And I had no clue what he was saying,
but he was making me feel better.
The things going through my mind was she's out of my hands
now.
I can't protect her.
And her life is in their hands.
So how much do you weigh now?
I'm 141 and 1/2.
And what happened after that surgery?
After I got the surgery, I was up an hour
later walking around.
OPRAH WINFREY: You were?
Yeah, yeah.
And I felt great.
I was a little loopy from the medicine, but I felt good.
OPRAH WINFREY: And then what can you eat or not eat,
or what happens to your habits?
What happens to the things that made
you fat in the first place?
Well, I didn't--
it wasn't like I ate a lot when I was younger.
It was just--
I was just putting on weight so fast.
And it wasn't like the things I ate.
It was just my body, the way it was
taking the things I was eating.
But now, today, I can eat anything I want.
It's just smaller portions.
I can only eat-- like you were saying, I can eat a hamburger,
take three bites of hamburger, maybe two French fries,
and I'm set. OPRAH WINFREY: Really?
Yeah.
Is that all you want, or is that all your stomach can hold?
That's all that--
it's like I feel full.
I feel like, oh, I have--
I'm done.
But I bet you when you were eating--
and I say this from experience--
I bet that there were many times you were eating--
you were already full when you were overweight.
You were already full, but you kept
eating although you were full.
Yeah, that's one of the major things,
I think, that gets people to where they are,
because they don't know when to say when.
And now that I have this, it's like--
it's like they put a different kind of gas tank in me.
Whenever it hits full, you're full.
You're full?
I'm full, yeah.
OK.
Now, the obvious question is why Mexico.
Well, in the United States, I searched on the website
for a doctor to take Cassie.
That was my first option, was the States, because of safety
issues and everything.
But the more I kept looking, the doctors were saying no, no.
She's underage.
They wouldn't touch her.
So as I was doing the web search,
I came across Dr. Ortiz.
And when I looked at his credentials and everything,
it was fabulous.
He had just done a child of Cassie's age.
So I went from there.
I called the mother.
I called--
OPRAH WINFREY: Of the child he had done?
Yes, and I spoke to her.
And the feedback from her was good.
And then I talked to the child, and the feedback from the child
was excellent.
She was recovering, doing great, and she was happy.
Did you think, though-- did you
have a lot of discussion about whether
to wait until she was older?
Did you have a lot of discussion about other weight loss
programs?
We did.
But as a lot of people know when they do gain weight,
there's a lot of damage to the body.
I didn't want her knees to go.
I didn't want her to get diabetes
I didn't want it to go past the point of no return where the--
I was very close to having diabetes.
I was very close.
And I had to lose weight.
You just had to.
And I was going on all kinds of diets.
What had you done to try to lose weight without this?
We did diets, exercising.
And it didn't-- it was frustrating
because all the stuff I was trying to do,
nothing would work.
And I'd gain more weight.
OPRAH WINFREY: What about the social aspects?
When the girls came and said you're
not going to have a boyfriend, that
affected you as well as her.
It did.
First it was the health, but the icing on the cake
is when the girls came to her.
And I saw the pain in her face.
I just thought, how could these kids be so cruel?
And it wasn't just those two girls.
It was-- you know, kids are mean.
They will tell you things, and that stuff
gets right down to you.
You act like it doesn't, but it really does.
And so what changed for you immediately
after you had this surgery?
You ate differently.
I ate differently.
It's just like a lifestyle you have to set your body up for.
But we just eat differently.
I was losing weight very fast.
The first two weeks, I think I lost 15, 20 pounds.
And I was just happy.
Once you get on that scale, you're like, yes.
But it was just boosting everything.
So what do you say to people who say you should have waited?
Are you satisfied?
Are you pleased with your decision?
I'm very pleased.
OPRAH WINFREY: And if you had it to do it again,
would you do it again? - All over again.
And you know what?
She's very happy.
And most of all, she's healthy.
OPRAH WINFREY: You're happy?
I am very happy.