My 600 Pound Life is a popular reality show that airs on TLC.
It deals with the lives of people who are morbidly obese and the struggles they face.
The series follows their journey to weight loss, while also showing how their life changes
after they lose weight.
The star of the show, Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, is an Iranian-born American resident doctor
who specializes in assisting morbidly obese people to lose weight.
Dr. Now, as he's been dubbed, is a weight loss expert, celebrated author, and gifted
surgeon who specializes in vascular and Bariatric surgeries
Most of the show's featured participants, with a bit of help from Dr. Now, have found
success losing weight and have gone on to live full and productive lives after appearing
on the show, however, not everyone has been as fortunate.
Since the series' premiere in 2012, there has been a growing list of My 600-lb Life
deaths.
Keep watching to learn which My 600 Pound Life cast members have passed away since their
time on the show.
Henry Foots This Texas native was one of the first people
to appear on the TLC docuseries.
In fact, he was only the second patient that Dr. Now worked with on the program.
He began his journey on the show weighing 750 pounds and revealed that he had already
tried numerous diets and programs to lose weight before filming.
After abiding by a strict diet plan, adopting an exercise regimen, and going under the knife
to receive gastric bypass surgery, Foots' weight dropped to 275 pounds.
Sadly, Henry died from heart failure at the age of 54 on May 6, 2013.
Robert Buchel
Buchel's weight loss journey was documented in one of the sixth season episodes.
The New Jersey resident was off to a great start when he first appeared on My 600 Pound
Life.
He ended up losing 124 pounds after he underwent surgery to have one of his lymphedema masses
removed.
A few months after having surgery to remove excess body fat, Robert Buchel had lost a
total of 340 pounds.
Unfortunately, he also developed a crippling addiction to painkillers.
When Dr. Now tried to take him off the opioid medications, Robert refused to get out of
bed and exercise.
On November 15, 2017, Robert died of a heart attack at the age of 41.
James Bonner
This man's death is one of My 600 Pound Life's most tragic ones.
Out of the blue, the 30-year-old posted a heartfelt 'thank you' to all of his supporters
on social media.
A week later, he took his own life.
Bonner's body was discovered in a park ditch in Lexington, South Carolina, with what appeared
to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
As we saw in the show, Bonner's struggle with obesity began after he was involved in a tragic
accident that resulted in him losing a leg.
To cope with his trauma, Bonner turned to food and booze.
In a short period of time, his weight ballooned to 642 pounds.
While on My 600 Pound Life, Bonner lost nearly half of his weight after having gastric bypass
surgery.
By the end of the show's sixth season, he weighed just 315 pounds.
At the time of his death, his weight was down to about 200 pounds.
Following his passing, Bonner's girlfriend, Destiny Honeycutt, posted pictures of him
on her social media while delivering the heartbreaking news.
Renee Biran
Renee became obese while she was modeling for viewers who had a fetish for watching
her eat.
She appeared on My 600 Pound Life during the show's sixth season.
When she first appeared on the series, she weighed 631 pounds but was able to lose more
than 250 pounds by the time her stint on the show had ended.
Everything seemed to be going well for her until she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre
Syndrome.
While it's not known for certain that the disease led to her death, it's speculated
that it probably did.
Biran died on May 14, 2021.
Lisa Fleming
Lisa's weight issues started when she was just a child.
After her parents got divorced, Fleming turned to binge eating for comfort.
This bad habit only got worse after she witnessed her brother's murder.
The Alabaman weighed just over 700 pounds when she appeared on the seventh episode of
My 600 Pound Life's sixth season in 2018.
At the time, she had been bedridden for years and was no longer capable of taking care of
herself without her family's help.
What she wanted the most was to be a part of her grandchildren's life.
Lisa knew she was bad off when she discovered maggots in her skin folds, but she was willing
to take Dr. Now's advice and turn her life around.
The mother of three died at her home on August 23, 2018, after having a fatal heart attack.
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Don't go anywhere just yet, because we've still got quite a few My 600 Pound Life deaths
to cover.
Gina Krasley
Gina weighed a little more than 600 pounds when she and her wife Beth joined the show
during its eighth season.
During her time on the program, Krasley admitted to struggling with feelings of abandonment
and neglect in her childhood.
These feelings led her to use food as a coping mechanism, and as a result, she put on quite
a bit of weight.
Gina and Beth moved from New Jersey to Houston to seek out Dr. Now's help.
In March 2021, Gina shared on social media that she had lost 170 pounds.
While this was quite the accomplishment, unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save her life.
The 30-year-old died on August 1, 2021, surrounded by her friends and family.
She was receiving in-home medical care and was scheduled to see a neurologist in two
days when she passed away at her home.
Kelly Mason
Kelly was suffering from high blood pressure, a thyroid issue, blood clot, arthritis, diabetes,
and a pulmonary embolism when she agreed to fly out to Houston to be on Dr. Now's show.
Mason weighed more than 700 pounds when she joined the show in its seventh season.
By the end of her tenure on the series, she had lost more than 300 pounds.
Kelly was one of Dr. Now's favorite patients, and the two could often be seen chatting and
cracking jokes together.
With his support, Mason stuck to her diet and did occupational and physical therapy.
Sadly, on the 15th of February 2019, she died from heart failure in her sleep just days
before her 42nd birthday.
Coliesa McMillion
This My 600 Pound Life participant developed very unhealthy eating habits and hit 450 pounds
before turning 25.
When she was 39, she suffered a heart attack after her fiance died in a car accident.
To find a little bit of comfort after that devastating loss, McMillion turned to food
as an escape.
Because of her weight, McMillion's doctors were unable to operate on her heart to rectify
the damage that was done when she had her nearly-fatal heart attack.
Coiesa was featured on My 600 Pound Life in 2020.
The mother of four weighed 650 pounds when she traveled to Houston, Texas, for gastric
bypass surgery.
While the procedure helped her lose more than 150 pounds, she died of severe complications
from one of her surgeries on September 22, 2020.
Sean Milliken
Sean first appeared on My 600 Pound life in 2016.
He became overweight after his parents got divorced when he was 10.
He also attributed his overeating to his strained relationship with his father.
Sean weighed more than 900 pounds before going on the show.
With Dr. Now's help, Milliken lost 400 pounds, but his mother persisted in feeding him unhealthy
foods while encouraging him to ignore the doctor's instructions.
As a result, Sean's weight fluctuated severely throughout his tenure in the program.
At his peak weight, Milliken weighed over 1,000 pounds.
After his mother died of kidney failure and his apartment got flooded and all of his belonging
were destroyed in Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Sean put back on a lof the weight he had previously
lost on the show.
Just two weeks after returning to the hospital, Sean developed an infection that eventually
led to him going into cardiac arrest.
This medical emergency claimed his life on February 17, 2019, at the age of 29.
James King
King appeared on the TLC series during its fifth season in 2017.
At the time, he weighed 791 pounds.
He made a dozen or so follow-up appearances on the show over the course of the next several
years.
King spent the majority of his childhood being raised by his father who was quite impoverished.
To cope with his frustration with his financial status, James started overeating.
By the time he was a freshman in high school, he already weighed 250 pounds.
After his mother passed away when he was 15, his family completely fell apart.
He then turned to food for solace even more than he already had.
The first time that he was on the show, King ultimately was dismissed for refusing to cooperate
with Dr. Now's weight-loss regimen.
While he should have been losing weight, he actually put it on at an alarming rate.
James weighed a jaw-dropping 840 pounds the second time that he appeared on My 600 Pound
Life.
He was also suffering from several serious health issues, including cirrhosis of the
liver, kidney failure, sepsis, anemia, high blood pressure, and cellulitis.
While he was in the ICU, a GoFundMe fundraiser paid for his groceries and bills.
Despite losing 340 pounds, the 49-year-old father of four daughters and six sons passed
away on April 3, 2020, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Destinee LaShaee
Born Matthew Ventress, Destinee was the first transgender person to appear on My 600 Pound
Life when she joined the show during season seven.
As a means of combating severe depression, LaShaee turned to food to soothe her troubled
mind.
Destinee had high hopes that the show would be able to help her overcome obesity while
learning better habits, but sadly her obesity led to her death less than two years after
appearing on the show.
Destinee weighed nearly 700 pounds when she first appeared on the show, but eventually,
she lost more than 500 pounds.
As many that came before her also experienced, Destinee struggled to keep the weight off.
Then in February of 2022, her brother Wayne Compton shared a message of grief on Facebook,
confirming the 30-year-old's death.
Which one of the My 600 Pound Life cast member's death shocked you the most?
And were you aware that 11 former participants on the reality series have passed away?
Let us know in the comments.
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