Mitchell, My Sons 100lbs!

I was dying and an angel carried me upwards towards heaven. I thought, “Please not now, I have a new son.”I needed to live so I could teach him. He would have no memories of me. My daughter too was so young. I did not yet experience the first Father-Daughter Dance. I wouldn’t see them graduate. Once I returned to the states having experienced several times the knocking from the Angel of Death, I went to his grandfather and asked if he would raise him. I thought my lifetime on earth was limited due to my kidneys failing. Upon leaving his home, I thought, “He can’t raise my son! I need to be here for him!”I helped with his education and life necessities. Teaching him the responsibilities of being a man etc. but, I couldn’t teach or motivate him to lose weight. Here I am the trainer of many who come and call from far and near and yet, I couldn’t reach my son. I would say to him, “You are too big. I don’t want to bury you one day because of your weight“. I then reached deep to trick him into losing it. I knew he always would say as a child, “Dad if and when your transplanted kidney fails, I will be the one to donate to you. I know I have sisters but, I believe I will be the one.”He went to college and graduated …….Lost a few pounds but, it came back. Here I own a personal training studio and he wouldn’t cross its threshold. He was well over 330 PLUS pounds. Sometimes, I would get angry. Not at him but, I was angry with myself. Why couldn’t I reach him when I could easily reach others? I wanted to give up, but this is why I asked God to keep me around. I needed to be his teacher no matter if I lacked in motivating him to do more. I kept the principle that if we teach them and even if they stray from the path, they will eventually return to find it.I lost my kidney……. My son rose as he said he would but, he knew his weight would be an issue. He didn’t seem worried, he had me. “Dad is great at what he does. If I listen to him, I know I will lose it.” He saw the doctors and began testing. I tried to talk him out of doing it but, he would say; “Dad, I’ve been wanting to do this since I was 4 years old.” They told him he had to lose 60 pounds and within 6 months he was back, 60 pounds lighter and feeling good. He was ready to do what he always dreamed he would do. Give his dad a kidney. .Rejection…… Not because of weight, but because his blood type was not O like mine. He was as his mother and I can’t receive a kidney from anyone but O. I told him it didn’t matter. That I was fine and everything happens for a reason. Still, he was devastated. I tried to make a joke out of it. Because his blood type was that of his mother’s, I said, “Yeah, we always knew you were a mommas boy.”A few weeks later his hopes would rise again. There was a way. It was called the SWAP Program. This is when you want to donate to someone but, you didn’t match them. Or if you found in your heart to just give part of yourself to help someone in need. He jumped to the opportunity, passed all tests, even weight and they said, no. Again, devastation. He requested a meeting and asked, why not? They broke it down and with persistence he got them to say yes if he dropped more weight. He said to the doctors, “I’ll see you in a year.” They looked shocked and he said, “You don’t understand. I’ve been big all my life. And it’s not that I don’t have the tools for losing weight but, I never took advantage of the tools I have at hand. However, my dad needing a kidney pushes me to lose weight. My dad would always tell me that he doesn’t care about the kidney, he just wants me to be healthy. But, I need this to push me. My Dad needling a kidney is my X-Factor. And I will use it to motivate me to lose even more. This is why I can say without a doubt that I will see you within a year.” The doctor smiled and knowing my history said to my son, “You are just like your father.” He took it as a compliment. So the journey continues. Almost 100 pounds down. And not just weight, but body fat. The difference us when you lose weight, you lose muscle and become very flabby. He is losing fat because the body is getting more muscular while getting leaner. It’s funny how life motivates us. There was once a man whose daughter needed a kidney. Without it, she would surely die. The father matched but, he was 420 lbs. 200 lbs overweight. He tried to lose weight before and failed. When he was told his daughter had about a year, he went to work. Eleven months later; 210 lbs lighter, they took his kidney and put it not his daughter. They said, “You saved your daughter’s life!” He replied; “No, she saved mine.”