Patrick Deuel, 42, of Valentine, Neb., weighed 1,072 pounds when he was admitted "If we hadn’t gotten him here, he’d be dead now,” said Fred Harris, Deuel’s The former restaurant manager has been bedridden since last fall. He has battled "Until recently, I wasn’t able to Deuel, who "I got scared because I couldn’t help He also wants to go to a Nebraska Cornhuskers football from AP<\/a><\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – A man who once weighed more than half a ton has lost 321 pounds under the care of a team of doctors and hopes to lose 450 pounds more. Patrick Deuel, 42, of Valentine, Neb., … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/deuel.jpg\")
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – A man who once weighed
\n more than half a ton has lost 321 pounds under the care of a team of
\n doctors and hopes to lose 450 pounds more.<\/p>\n
\nto Sioux Falls’ Avera McKennan Hospital eight weeks ago. Deuel, who is just under
\n6 feet tall, is on a 1,200 calorie-a-day diet.<\/p>\n
\nlead doctor.<\/p>\n
\nheart failure, thyroid problems, diabetes, pulmonary hypertension and arthritis,
\nand needed help just to roll over in bed. <\/font><\/p>\n
\n see any light at the end of the tunnel,” he said Monday from his hospital
\n bed. A group known as the League of Human Dignity helped arrange for
\n Deuel to be driven
\n to a local livestock scale, where he could be weighed. According to the Guinness
\n World Records Web site, the record for heaviest man in the world is 1,397 pounds,
\n held by Jon Brower Minnoch of Bainbridge, Wash., who died in 1983. <\/font><\/p>\n
\n has battled weight problems all his life and blames his condition in part
\n on genetics, said it took months to find a hospital. Hospitals closer
\n to his home
\n balked at admitting him, he said. <\/font><\/p>\n
\n him anymore, and I didn’t know who would help him,” said his wife,
\n Edith. Harris
\n said Deuel’s care could cost millions of dollars, much of which the hospital
\n may have to cover. Officials found a special ambulance, and hospital workers
\n joined two beds to accommodate Deuel. One of Deuel’s goals is to walk out
\n of the hospital.<\/p>\n
\n game,
\n and just take a walk with his wife. "Even though he’s faced negativity
\n all these
\n years, he’s not a negative person,” Edith Deuel said. "He’s almost always
\n been able to stay bubbly and make jokes and be happy.”<\/font><\/p>\n