World's Heaviest Man Who Is Set To Undergo a Gastric Bypass

• Juan Pedro Franco, of Aguascalientes in Mexico, weighed over 1,100 pounds

• Surgeons will perform a gastric bypass aiming to reduce his weight by 50%

• He has shed 385 pounds to qualify for the life-changing operation

The world's heaviest man – who's spent six years confined to a bed – is finally set to undergo gastric bypass surgery.

Juan Pedro Franco, who once weighed more than half a ton at 1,100lbs (595kg), has been on a three-month diet to prepare for the operation on May 9.

The 32-year-old, from Aguascalientes in Mexico, is almost as obese as Mexican man Manuel Uribe - who was once considered the world's fattest man before he died in 2014.

Mr Franco has to shed about 385 pounds at a special weight-loss clinic to make himself a suitable candidate for the operation.

'He has lost nearly 30 per cent of his initial weight, so he is ready to undergo the bariatric surgery,' Dr Jose Antonio Castaneda Cruz said.

Mr Franco first made headlines in November when he was admitted to the clinic after making the trip via a specially-adapted van to the western city of Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Using special equipment and a special ambulance he was removed from his house and taken to hospital, Xinhua news agency reported.

At the time, Castaneda said Mr Franco's obesity and related conditions, including diabetes, had made the operation impossible.

Mr Franco contacted the clinic after coming across one of their online ads.

Despite his weight loss, it cannot be guaranteed that complications will not appear. Franco's doctor is optimistic, saying they were 'on the right path'.

The initial gastric bypass aims to reduce his current weight by 50 per cent, after which a second operation will be needed, said Castaneda.

Mr Franco noted there were other people trapped in their homes like him. 'Some have passed away perhaps from sadness, or because they don't dare to ask for help,' he said.

He urged those suffering from obesity 'to raise their voice and ask for help since it is possible'.

Mr Franco has said he wants to lose weight to be able to dance again. He said: 'I'm looking forward to going out again, driving again, singing. That's what I like doing. God willing, I'll be able to do all those things in the future.'

Nearly 75 per cent of adults in Mexico are considered overweight or obese and the prevalence of diabetes ranks among the highest in the world.

HOW DID MR FRANCO BALLOON TO BECOME WORLD'S FATTEST?

Juan Pedro Franco says he was chubby at school – at six years old he weighed nearly 10 stone.

The suffering Mexican's weight went up and up and at 17 he weighed just over 36 stone.

His weight ballooned further as a teenager when he had a crippling traffic accident, followed by a bout of pneumonia, which left him bed-ridden for more than a year.

The accomplished guitar player appealed for help last July when he announced he weighed just over 60 stone, revealing he hadn't left his box room for six years.

He said he feared he would die after having to quit a special diet which his OAP parents couldn't afford.

His plight became world news when pictures emerged of him being transported from his home in the central Mexican city of Aguascalientes to a clinic 100 miles away in Guadalajara last November.

He was then was initially thought to weigh 79 stone. However, doctors discovered he was nearly 15 stone heavier than they first thought.

When he was taken to hospital he was found to weigh a near record-breaking 92st 9lbs.

Franco was put on a three-month diet so that he could be considered for weight loss surgery booked in for May.

Doctor Jose Antonio Castaneda, the specialist assisting him, said: 'Everything we're doing has been mapped out and if everything goes to plan in a year and a half we'll have him down to between 12 and 14 stone.'


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