RE: Big Pete - This was a post from Spotlighthealth.com

[Guest guest]

I am so sorry over the passing of your friend, Pete. I had read his website

and was amazed at his weight loss story and his life. He truly lived to be of

support for other . I am so thankful that he had such a good friend in you and

got to accomplish most of his goals before his death.. He will surely be

missed.. Please accept my deepest condolences on the loss of your friend and

this

loved one in your family circle..

Also please pass on my deepest condolences to the Herida family in their

loss..

Take care

Peachy hugs,

[Guest guest]

This is the hardest post I have ever had to

write. My good friend and an amazing human being Herida

(BigPete803) passed away yesterday. Many of you know him as the guy

from

Oprah. had an amazing journey. He start out weight was 863

pounds. He was never expected to live through the surgery. In the

first 10 months he lost 560 pounds, and ended up losing 608 total.

He had

been homebound for 20 years because of his weight prior to surgery,

he had also

been in a wheelchair for 12 years. He got a new lease on life after

surgery and he embraced it to the fullest over the past few years.

I first

met Pete at the first support group meeting I attended. Even though

it had

been 3 years since his surgery he still attended each and every

support group

meeting. He said that the doctor's there could save a persons life,

but he

could provide someone with hope. He also worked as a volunteer for

the

hospital and visited and supported weight loss surgery patients on a

regular

basis. He has answered tens of thousands of emails over the past

few years

providing support. He also did many speaking engagement not only to

the

patient community but also to the medical community to educate them

as to the

needs of pre and post op patients. When I had my gastric bypass he

was

there to hold my hand in the recovery room and again when I had my

plastic

surgery. Over the past few months we have spent a great deal of time

together. He became very close to myself and my family. He had

become Uncle Pete to my kids. knew that he was dying due to

medical

condition unrelated to the weight loss surgery. We had several

conversations about it. He did not share this information with

everyone he just wanted to live each and every day that he had left

to the

fullest. He did not want anyone to feel pity for him because he had

finally gotten his life back and now he was going to die. He was not

bitter or angry. Instead he looked at as he should have died years

ago and

God had given him a second chance to have a few years to really enjoy

life. He had several goals that he wanted to achieve in the little

time

that he had left. Number one being featured on the Oprah Winfrey

show,

that became a reality a couple of months ago. He wanted to do the

first

cover of the WLSLifestyles magazine with me, that wish came true.

Another

was a video on weight loss surgery that he just completed, another

was his

poster of two girls in his pants (he says that he and God had a talk

about that

one) and he wanted to complete his book " Battle For Survival " .

He asked my help in achieving these goals. We managed to get just

about

everything done. The book I have most of the information for and I

will do

my best to complete it and make him proud. He wanted for the

proceeds from

these items to be donated to patients that had been successful in

losing the

weight and are unable to afford the plastic surgery afterwards. I

will

also work to make sure that this becomes a reality. Over the past

few months I have had the privilege of helping Pete get out and do

everything

that he wanted to. We have been shopping, to carnivals, an

aquarium, parks

with my kids, etc. He also wanted to attend the ASBS conference in

Boston

last week. We went and he had the time of his life meeting surgeons

and

people from the Bariatric community from around the world and

telling them his

story. After the conference he had one last wish he wanted to go on

a

cruise to the Bahamas and really live it up. We spent last weekend

jet skiing,

snorkeling, swimming and just having fun. He knew that his time was

getting close and asked me to go to lunch with him on Wednesday. He

thanked me and told me " I have lived more in the past eight weeks

than I

did in the past twenty years " he then gave me a hug and drove

away. Those words are forever etched in my memory. That was the

last

time I saw . On Thursday I tried to call him several times.

When there was no answer I drove to his house to check on him. He

had

passed away at his computer doing what he always did, providing

support to one

of us. Herida's amazing spirit will forever be alive in my

memory as

I hope it will be in yours as well. There will be a tribute page

added to his website within the next week. Anyone wishing to send a

message to his family can post here or send it to me via email

lindaalmonte@.... If you would like to send a card please

contact

me. He loved it when one of his post got flames, so let's break the

records for him!!! Petes website is www.bigpete803.com "

target= " _blank " >http://www.bigpete803.com " >www.bigpete803.com

to read more about his story.

[Guest guest]

No you misread the post.. His friend wrote it. I don't know

him, but I have read his website. Someone on here posted about his

passing away, and I knew there would be something on Spotlight

Health about him. So I posted story from there.

Suzy

[Guest guest]

Altamonte wrote the message about Big Pete, I saw it on AMOS. All she

said about his illness was that it is not WLS related. Bet the public doesn't

see it that way and miss the whole point of his glorious last years that he

would not have enjoyed without the surgery.

Fay Bayuk

**300/168

10/23/01

Dr.

Open RNY 150 cm

Click for My Profile

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