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Steven’s Success Story

Steven had been living independently in his own apartment for several years, with the natural support of his mother. In August of 2017, his weight was at his heaviest at 426 lbs. He was fully dependent on his natural support for all of his needs including sponge baths, dressing, hygiene, and transferring into his wheelchair. Steven was able to utilize public transportation at this time and could come and go; had his own visitors; however, he said he was making very poor food choices resulting in continued weight gain. Due to this weight gain, he now required more support and assistance than his natural support was able to provide. Steven decided he could no longer live independently and needed to seek additional supports.

After visiting Oak Grove, which is a Licensed Residential Home, Steven and his mom decided he wanted to move in. Steven had challenging’s in getting around now due to his weight gain since his wheelchair would not fit onto the traditional van lifts. Steven had to utilize different transportation busses to arrive at Oak Grove when he first moved in. Steven said moving into Oak Grove was a culture shock for him. He was dependent for the first few months on support staff because he was unable to care for himself in the most basic ways. It took support staff to help him move around, as he no longer could do this independently. Steven was unable to access the community due to the limitations his weight gain had imposed on him. He was unable to walk or even bear weight. Steven said he felt hopeless and angry and his only comfort was food. He had forgotten what independence felt like.

Steven soon started losing weight and building relationships. A completely new world began to open up. Steven chose to reduce his calorie intake, it did not take long for the weight to start falling off. Once this occurred, Steven had a completely new set of short-term goals that he wanted to meet and with the support of Oak Grove staff; they helped Steven to achieve his goals. The first major achievement was when Steven was able to achieve taking a shower for the first time in many years. How good that must have felt! He slowly began to assist in dressing himself with little support from staff. The things we all take for granted were reasons for Steven to celebrate! Steven continued to lose weight and was able to gain his independence back, planning community outings with his housemates and support staffing utilizing the home van. Steven continued to progress with being able to dress himself including putting on and taking off his own shoes. Steven also began to work on household chores such as taking out the trash. Before long, Steven was bearing weight and was walking with a walker and getting in and out of bed with very limited assistance.

Steven was now able to get himself dressed while standing up. It was not always easy for Steven to see himself any other way then he had been for years, so with this came many emotional changes. These changes were sometimes harder to overcome then the physical ones. His confidence was low and he needed support and words of encouragement. Steven’s newfound freedom, support and encouragement from his support staff and housemates helped him to be able to go shopping and learn to make healthy choices for himself and learn the hardest lesson of all “portion control”. Steven was not only helping himself but also learning the value and joy of helping others. He learned the lesson of honesty and accountability by the loss and gain of a few pounds during his weight loss journey.

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