Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Accident ruins 383-kg man's big date

BEIJING, March 11 (Xinhuanet) -- An 800-pound (383 kg) man was so sad that his big date was ruined by an accident just halfway to celebrate a budding romance and his success in losing about 440 pounds (200 kg), media reported Tuesday.

Manuel Uribe from Mexico city, 42, was to have a picnic near his Monterrey-area home on Sunday when one of the posts holding a sun-shielding tarp over his bed on his tow truck hit an overpass.

Uribe's blood pressure dropped so much his doctors advised him not to go on, and the celebration -- being documented by about two dozen photographers and reporters from around the world -- was consequently canceled.

"We were going to celebrate that I've been losing weight for two years and that it was my girlfriend's birthday," Uribe was quoted as saying in a telephone interview. "The saddest part was that I couldn't fulfill my dream of taking my girlfriend out to eat."

The man has been bedridden since the summer of 2002. He once weighed 1,235 pounds (560 kg) and had to rely on his mother and friends to feed and clean him.

He began on a high-protein diet two years ago, which cut his weight down to about 800 pounds.

Uribe said he still hopes to go out with his girlfriend on June 11, when he will turn 43.

(Agencies)

No comments: