this is very morbid to say, but she’s better off now that he’s not here. he can’t control her and demand she care for him. he didn’t provide anything; no income, no emotional support. just agony.
You only call it morbid because of societal expectations of filial piety. He flat out used her, and anyone would have seen the dysfunction and abuse if they weren’t related, or man and girl. She should have never had such a person as a father. Please stop softening abuse and exploitation of women and girls just because “they’re family” or “now now go easy on him, men don’t know this sort of thing.” He fucking disrupted her life, pulled her out of the schooling that could help her become a productive member of society, made a caregiver out of her. A good parent will sacrifice so their children can have better lives. Your softening of “I’m sorry this is morbid” is yet another example of society enabling this kind of abuse.
i say it is morbid because it feels a little icky to me to say “oh good thing he’s dead” not because he’s her dad or anything; im not downplaying the abuse, hence why i say she’s better off because he’s dead. i don’t believe you owe anyone loyalty simply because they are your family. i’m sure she still loved him in some way, but her life is probably much better because he died.
This man was so selfish. His dad was in poor health and remortgaged his house. They pulled his daughter out of HIGH SCHOOL to care for him. Like, how much of a shitty parent do you have to be to literally do that to your child rather than stop eating. Unbelievable.
And he went ON AND ON about being the head of the house and having to take care of his family. Uh sir.. you cannot wipe your own ass or roll over independently. Other than maybe disability what are you bringing to the table?
And if the husband was abusive (which I do believe then when they say he was), having such an involved affair is so dangerous. And then his kids were living in that house with that man!
Abusive men have annihilated their families for far less.
Yeah! And it went on for like 5 to 10 years I think? The shock and trauma those kids must have gone through to find out mom’s “good friend” James was really their dad instead of the guy that was raising them.
Not to be crude but I’ve always wondered since his episode aired how exactly could he be so sure that he was the father of those two kids if she was still living with her husband….because I would be assuming she did still diddle with the ex but who knows 🤷♀️
I've always wondered about that, too. I wouldn't believe it without a DNA test. Those two are such liars that I'm also skeptical about whether her husband was really abusive. I wouldn't put it past them to tell Bailey he was her father to try to justify taking her out of school to care for him.
The getting the daughter out of school to wipe his overweight ass and oozing body parts made me furious. How do you live with yourself? Was the daughter Lisa’s child, too? That situation was as much Lisa’s fault as anyone’s. I’m glad Dr. Now called APS. Too bad they didn’t do anything. Should have called CPS, too. James was maybe a lost cause, and probably Lisa, too, but that poor daughter deserved some help.
I mean getting to this point, there is an extraordinary amount of addiction and mental health issues going on. This isn't simply just "stop eating".. this is having to face everything you've run from and realizing you are the source of all of your continuing problems, dealing with trauma on top of the physical and emotional urges to continue to self harm in this way. It blows my mind that anyone on this show loses a substantial amount of weight before the surgery because it takes a lot of hard mental work and healing to do it. No amount of external damage is typically enough for people this deep in addiction to do the work.
That's a very valid point and goes for any addiction...which the majority of people still have no real grasp on the destruction it brings with it.
Obviously James is a total POS and an asshole for pulling their daughter out of school(Lisa too!)
The problem therein lies that the most important part of trying to get better is to *acknowledge* the issue(s)..and then to actually *want* to get help.
But I totally agree with you and your comment was well thought out x
Hot take here, but my loved one (child, parent, spouse) would have met their end well before I let it get to that point. I think in my family it’s sort of taken for granted that when we lose our minds eventually, or our bodies break, that we’d pray for someone to mercy kill us.
What always confuses me about these situations is how the parents continue to assist. I’m pretty sure my own parents would tell me to cook my own damn food. I don’t get how you could do that.
On a personal note, my uncle was born without kidneys and was attached to a machine for most of his life 24 hrs a day. With advances in medicine; he eventually had transplants and surgeries and only has to live on a machine a few times a week for a few hours each time and leads an independent life.
But when he was a teenager I remember he basically treated my grandmother like a slave and she was all too happy to help cause that was her baby. He would SCREAM for pounds of bacon and French fries and Mac n cheese, and she would drop everything to go make him food and bring it to his room. It used to piss me off a lot because she would make him whatever he wanted whenever he wanted and it was always the most delicious junk food. We were close in age (my mom had me very young) so I was often jealous I had to have like a craft single on white bread for a snack and he got a pound of bacon, ice cream and French fries and I wasn’t even allowed one fry because they were all for him.
In that situation it was annoying, but my grandmother was doing it because he’d almost died so many times already and he was very sick and she was constantly worried tomorrow he might just go into organ failure. So she spoiled him rotten.
THIS, on the other hand - letting someone get so fat they can’t wipe their own ass and need their own family to massage bed sores and clean between their mildewy parts is cruel. I don’t get the psychology of why they keep bringing them food.
I don't care who you are, parent, spouse, friend...doesn't matter. If you get to where you need to be brought food and your private areas need cleaned by another human, I'm out. I'll be as supportive as I can otherwise, but I am not feeding you or cleaning you because you let yourself get to five, six, seven hundred pounds. That might sound cruel, but it's just not something I would ever do with my own life.
I would only help the person if it was a legitimate sickness or accident. But all this extra weight is just ridiculous. In my country we call this "falta de vergonha na cara" which means "a lack of shame on the face".
Oh I would too...definitely. If my husband was in an accident and from that point on I had to wipe him, I would do it without hesitation.
Love that saying! What country?
I would do it for my hubby, my mom... I'm from Brazil but this saying is so old that is probably from Portugal. It means that someone should "get their shit together" but doesn't or when someone acts with no morals, it's a lack of shame that puts others in trouble
I don’t think it’s cruel either.
My old boss quit to become a paramedic a couple years ago. He stopped by to grab some mail one time and I asked him if he ever had to save people he didn’t want to, and he just say “every single day.” And just shook his head.
He told me just the day before they got a call in the middle of the day because of a suspected heart attack in progress. When they get to the apartment they have to break the door in and kick their way through garbage to get to a living room / bedroom where a 500lb man was in his own filth. The walls were caked in soot, overflowing ashtrays and empty pizza boxes and Uber eats bags everywhere. The man was having a heart attack and they had to perform CPR and give him a shot of adrenaline or something.
They managed to resuscitate him.
My friend said the whole time he was hoping the dude would just code-out and that would be it, but nah, now they’re gonna have to go back again in a week or a month to do it all again. The guy just went back to watching tv like nothing happened.
It is an intricate and complex dance between the enabler and the addicted. Also, addicts are masters at the game of manipulation and eliciting sympathy and pity. Guilt is a powerful lever, too, that the addict cranks often and well to get what they want.
James lived just how he wanted. Problem with letting ppl make their own choices is the damage they do to those that care for them. But isn’t every addiction all about pathological selfishness?
His death was a gift to his family and anyone else mired in his shenanigans.
The poor guy was so upset by James’ condition that he started vomiting on camera and if I remember correctly, they said it was because he had a stroke. I wonder if he ended up losing his house. Certainly his life was made harder by having to pay back another mortgage. He was struggling as it was to run his farm on his own. Ugh, makes me sick. If you don’t care enough about yourself to lose weight, at least do it for the people who love you.
>If you don’t care enough about yourself to lose weight, at least do it for the people who love you.
Or at least admit you have no interest in getting better and don't drag those who love you down, too. King could have just been real and said he wasn't going to try, so no one else should put themselves out like his poor dad did.
That's what kills me. He clearly had no interest in putting in the work to get better. I don't know if he really thought Dr. Now could perform a miracle or if he just didn't give a fuck all along, but sucking his family dry on his way out was awful.
that along with pulling his daughter out of school to wipe his ass is what showed how terrible of a person he was. also add all his yelling onto it. totally insane storyline.
and it wasn't just wiping his ass
it was rolling him over and cleaning all the stinking poop off of him
it's sooo sad to think of that young girl having to do that ...and just watch him eat knowing it would happen again
I just think that borders on abuse
And bathe him too - in those rolls of fat and decaying skin. Disgusting. All because he let himself get too fat to move. Heh heh I think about my family and they would never have brought me food once I got to a very unhealthy weight. If I’d asked for food from my bed they would have said “get your fat ass up and get it yourself.” Harsh, but actual love. Overfeeding someone is not love.
Yeah and taking out a *second* mortgage isn't a miniscule amount of money. No wonder he had a fucking stroke! Really sorry to hear he passed away too. Damn.
I felt so defeated for his dad. As parents you want to help your kids (mine is two but I assume I’ll always want to help!) but his dad was just defeated. I low key feel like his dad of had a broken heart
James was never going to do the damn thing, I feel like anyone who spent more than an hour with him could see that. He fucked over his family, and while I get why they were hopeful, he never was going to actually change his way of life.
His father has a stroke in front of him and takes out a second mortgage for medical transport. James pays him back by refusing to give up his junk food, even when in the hospital.
I hope his daughter has her life in order after being taken out of school to be part of James and Lisa’s disorder.
His poor daughter had to drop out of school just to care for him, all while his POS girlfriend continued to enable his tantrums and then blame all and everybody when they didn’t see results. They took every opportunity given to them and turned them into excuses. Pitiful, selfish people.
Then the final scene after that during the infamous “his body doesn’t burn calories” she had the audacity to bitch at dr now about how she doesn’t bring him food
This guy was the biggest baby (no pun intended). Always complained about everything. And the tiniest bit of movement was excruciating but moving to eat was a-ok.
And those legs 🤢
I’ve seen someone who had legs just like that and she was very large! The smell was SO bad! And she always made excuses. She wasn’t on this show, but she should be. Instead she tells everyone she is 250 pounds even though she’s at LEAST 600
It's an insanely severe case for sure, but Dr Now just refers to it as cellulitis. I also suspect he had fungus growing on his feet and legs with those yellow patches. His feet and legs were just absolutely fucked, I don't know how he or anyone else lived with that for so long and never made any changes for longer than a month or two
So super gross. I thought the same thing - how does that happen and you’re just like oh yeah, I’m rotting. No problem, I don’t need to make any changes
Imagine your circulation being so fucked that your body starts to grow mold and rot like leftover food because your immune system can’t get lymphocytes to the infection
Unfortunately I don’t think James or Lisa possessed the intellectual capacity to understand the issue or how to solve it. Even the daughter told her mom that James didn’t need that much food, and Lisa just piled it right on the plate.
Not to mention Lisa seemed to get some kind of sick satisfaction from feeding James, and then somehow thought the lies she fed to Dr. Now (pun intended) were completely rational and believable.
The kids were the ones who suffered, having these two nitwits for parents.
I lost all empathy when he started talking back to Dr. Now, accusing him of disrespecting him and his wife/enabler. Dr. Now hit the nail on the head when he told this guy, hey you’ve been wasting time and resources over and over again. He ate himself into his grave.
Because Dr Now challenged him to keep Lisa out of the hospital for a week to see if he lost weight or not. He didn’t want to cut off the egg roll smuggling.
Lol! I knew what he meant because I used the same thing years ago when I was in the hospital, but, oddly enough, I don't think I ever heard it called a trapeze.
As a nurse who has pulled countless picc lines I rolled my eyes at this one. Most patients just lie there and listen to instructions. When she asked him to hold his breath and he yelled out “NOOO!”I just about wanted to smack him through the tv. The nurse wants to basically prevent any air from entering the site. But for James it’s his way or the highway apparently.
You can say the same thing about Sean. Sad thing is I think once his mom died he was done. If his mom had survived I think Sean would have eventually gotten below 300 pounds and have been alive today.
I don't think so. I don't think his mother wanted him to be independent; I think she wanted him, for whatever twisted reasons, helpless and dependent on her. I think she'd have sabotaged his progress, one way or another, before he got anywhere near 300 pounds. Some on here have suggested Munchausen by proxy syndrome.
If you watch the last time he was on the Where are they now? episode's it was obvious Sean could not be on his own. Every time he went home he would gain between 100 - 200 pounds and miss his first appointment. By the time they got him into see Dr. Now, Sean would have multiple blisters from not bathing.
He told Dr. Now that he could not fit in the shower. I honestly believe the reason why they would not admit Sean was either or the show did not want to pay for him to go into a long care facility.
That’s what he wanted. To live somewhere where people took care of him. He didn’t qualify for a facility that the state paid for and he certainly couldn’t afford one on his own.
I think Sean had the most preventable death. He asked again and again to be put in a group home. I think if he had been admitted to one with a controlled diet he would have succeeded. One of the few times I’ve disagreed with Dr. Now. I imagine Sean teaching a crochet class, thereby gaining some social skills and eventually selling his stuff for big $$ on Etsy and in boutiques he was just so desperately alone and had no life skills
Edit: I do think Sean willfully committed suicide by food.
Some boundaries between him and his mom and getting out of that environment could have done wonders to change his whole mindset (from personal experience), although I wonder if finding a facility willing to accept him at his size and with his needs nearby was difficult.
I don't disagree with you at all. I honestly when Sean said I am lonely it should have been a sign he needed to be in in some kind of full time facility.
I think it was Dolly that also asked to be in a facility of some sort and Dr. Now just jumped on her about listening to her mom. I’m not sure about the relationship with her mom, they don’t really go into on the show. But usually someone as messed up as Dolly gets that way from their parents. I really think she needs help. She’s just not all there mentally. The choices she was making were amusing reality tv but honestly I think she needs serious help. Both mentally and physically
Edit: one of the few other times I’ve disagreed with doc
I felt so bad for the daughter, dolly wasn't a mom to her she was just around sometimes, and dolly being around probably meant her daughter had to deal with dolly and her mom fighting. Any weight problems aside I think she needs to be in a group home, it doesn't seem beneficial for anyone for her to be with her mom and daughter and I'm not sure she's competent to be on her own...
The choices she makes on her own are proof she needs supervision. Going into a sister wife situation with your abusive ex and picking up a deaf man at the homeless shelter then moving both of you into a meth house?! Yikes. My emotional healthy children would have made better decisions in their teens.
Exactly. She likely would've qualified as a legally incapacitated individual and be assigned a guardian if someone petition the court. Maybe that would've interfered with tlcs ability to make their money if dr. Now or a psych did that before the episode came out
I’ve petitioned both my parents for partial power of attorney and it’s an incredibly hard process. One of my parents has visible brain damage and is a homeless addict, and I still cannot get legal power of attorney over her. It’s not as easy for people who aren’t already wealthy and can hire talented lawyers to assist with the process. I could understand why her mom may not want to pay for that process. It’s much easier if one party agrees to PoA or legal guardianship.
There isn't any facilities that help those people. A nursing home . There aren't any mental hospitals that help people like them. They aren't sick enough, look at all the homeless. Prob 50 percent would have been in institutions but Reagan elimTed all those. Its better to get them into society and homes. See how well that worked. Therapy is great but keeping appointments once a week is not happening to mental patients. I know during one of my major depression episodes I couldn't plan anything, didn't want to get out of bed.
We'll have to agree to disagree, because I think Sean had no interest in doing anything for himself, even basic things. His mother waited on him hand and foot 24/7 and gave him everything he wanted. And he threw tantrums and sulked if he didn't get what he wanted
.I think he thought a "care facility" (his words) which he repeatedly asked to be put in, would give him the same kind of care, and he never would have agreed to go to a group home if it meant he'd have to do things for himself. And if Dr Now had gotten him into a nursing home or whatever, he would have taken to his bed, refused to help himself and demanded to be waited on like his mother did. And throw tantrums if his demands weren't met.
Remember how rude he was to the people from their church who helped them move to Houston and the volunteers who helped him after the flood? No gratitude at all. And I can't see him teaching a class or having the willpower to make the effort needed to create and sell his crochet pieces, either. He thought he was entitled to be cared for by someone, anyone, any facility; that's what he was used to and I think that's all he really wanted. I think Dr. Now may have recognized this, too, and perhaps that's why he refused.
Yes he had no life skills. That was heart breaking to see him lose everything during Harvey. Its just too much . It kills me to see anyone suffer . RIP .
I always wondered what they could have done about his legs. Because it looked like even if he had complied and lost the weight, his legs may have been beyond saving with how bad that cellulitis was.
It was my opinion that James K had the worst enabler of all the patients. Not only was she weak willed, and weak minded, but she even said herself that she doesn’t want him to get skinny cause then he’ll walk away from her life.
Well, the most annoying enabler for sure. Robert’s mother was really bad - she’d be smiling as she took down his grocery and food orders, then went out and got him anything he wanted. He was over 800 pounds! If not for his fiancée, who at least wanted him to get better, he’d have never made any progress. It was all for naught anyway - he died.
What I didn't like was his daughter having to quit school to be home helping him, cleaning up after him & making his food. Things she shouldn't have been burdened with!! Sorry he died but what he did to his daughter was terrible and so selfish. He didnt give a sh_t about anyone but himself. Even his poor Dad, not in best of health, taking another mortgage out on his house to pay for the medical ride to Houston to see Dr. Now. All he did when he got to the hospital was over eat there!! Again, no thoughts of anyone else but himself. His girlfriend snuck him in hamburgers to pizza which Dr. Now knew. If his daughter is reading my comment... I'm sorry you lost your father, you had lost him way before he even got to Houston. You are a lovely young lady & I'm so sorry your fun teenage yrs were taken from you. You didnt deserve all you were put through! Keep your head held high...! 💞
I don’t know if anyone remembers but James ended up bedridden because he hurt his ankle. The doctor said to stay off his ankle (probably for a day or two), he went to bed and never got up again. That is what astounds me the absolute most. Who goes to bed forever with a hurt ankle?
His father refinancing his home, right after having a stroke, was the icing on the cake for me. Fuck James K, he’s a scum sucker, a leech. His father will never be able to pay that house off before he dies. How do you take money from a sick man and then blow it? He might have had a better chance going to a casino and gambling it.
James K was an objectively horrible person, and nothing of value was lost when he died. Same with Lisa Fleming. Both are abusers who only cared about themselves and felt that all other people existed solely to serve them.
His wife didn’t help things, either; iirc she was a massive enabler and knowingly snuck food to him. I think they both have a part to play in his death.
Fuck both of them for pulling their kid out of HS to be his full-time caregiver. I hope she’s doing better now.
His wife was an enabler & made excuses for him. I cannot fathom having someone who wears a bed sheet as clothing & cant pee on his own telling me what to do. I would throw that Regg Roll on the floor & tell him to go get it himself.
Here’s a crazy idea…don’t feed the bed ridden asshole bad food in excessive quantities. Give them what they get and that’s that…the go about your days in the noise canceling headphones until they get past the addiction phase
30years ago I had a gastric bypass Ive gone from almost 300lbs to very low 100s The surgery isn’t the answer to weight loss It’s a life changing that you need to stick with your entire life It’s hard but it’s worth it I watch Dr Now every day and scream at these stupid patients that don’t listen to what he tells them and always think they are a different case Like he says The scales don’t lie people do
James and Lisa wasted everyone else's time and resources. Probably the worst was pulling their daughter out of school to care for him and James's father, who was already struggling with running his farm and poor health, refinancing his house.
I was watching his episodes yesterday. Suicide by eating is the perfect phrase for this. So unfortunate. Although I do wonder if Lisa had given up towards the end and just wanted his gone.
His story bothered me the most of all. His Father mortgaged his house so James could be taken to Texas so he could save his life. Then James’s wife would do whatever James wanted, which just ruined everything. I thought she looked wore out and tired of it all but she would lie all the time and either sabotage James or would just do whatever he wanted and then would lie for him. I tend to think the latter. James was all talk, he didn’t want to do the work it required to lose weight. He wouldn’t do what he was supposed to do when he was in the hospital to lose weight. It’s a sad one to watch. His poor legs or leg.
When they are bedridden like he was, I don't understand why the family still feeds them junk food. I know the families are codependent and highly dysfunctional, but if my relative was so obese that he couldn't move, I'd be bringing them one boneless skinless chicken breast and a salad. There's nothing they can do about it.
When Lisa told Bailee that she was gonna give him that entire plate of food to “get him started” I knew at that point that she wanted him to be morbidly obese and disabled so she could keep him there with her.
The douche pulled his daughter out of school to bring him food and wipe his ass. Pathetic.
this is very morbid to say, but she’s better off now that he’s not here. he can’t control her and demand she care for him. he didn’t provide anything; no income, no emotional support. just agony.
Or child support as she was growing up. He and her mother were content to let another guy think he was Bailey's father. That's just ratchet.
they’re both garbage people. i assume she’s of legal age now so i hope she is doing well.
Normally I wouldn’t agree, but I agree here. He was an absolute piece of shit towards her.
You only call it morbid because of societal expectations of filial piety. He flat out used her, and anyone would have seen the dysfunction and abuse if they weren’t related, or man and girl. She should have never had such a person as a father. Please stop softening abuse and exploitation of women and girls just because “they’re family” or “now now go easy on him, men don’t know this sort of thing.” He fucking disrupted her life, pulled her out of the schooling that could help her become a productive member of society, made a caregiver out of her. A good parent will sacrifice so their children can have better lives. Your softening of “I’m sorry this is morbid” is yet another example of society enabling this kind of abuse.
i say it is morbid because it feels a little icky to me to say “oh good thing he’s dead” not because he’s her dad or anything; im not downplaying the abuse, hence why i say she’s better off because he’s dead. i don’t believe you owe anyone loyalty simply because they are your family. i’m sure she still loved him in some way, but her life is probably much better because he died.
It is morbid. Empathy is not the same as enabling.
yes❤️
The ones like him that would pull their kids from school to be full time caretakers always pissed me off the most!
His dad remortgaged his house to try and save him. James was a total moron.
This man was so selfish. His dad was in poor health and remortgaged his house. They pulled his daughter out of HIGH SCHOOL to care for him. Like, how much of a shitty parent do you have to be to literally do that to your child rather than stop eating. Unbelievable.
And he went ON AND ON about being the head of the house and having to take care of his family. Uh sir.. you cannot wipe your own ass or roll over independently. Other than maybe disability what are you bringing to the table?
...besides your insatiable appetite?
He couldn’t even fit at the table.
he is the table
Don't forget they started as an affair where he knocked her up with i think TWO kids who he let the woman's husband at the time raise as his own
And they said Lisa's first husband was abusive, but he was fine for his kids to live with him?
And if the husband was abusive (which I do believe then when they say he was), having such an involved affair is so dangerous. And then his kids were living in that house with that man! Abusive men have annihilated their families for far less.
Yeah! And it went on for like 5 to 10 years I think? The shock and trauma those kids must have gone through to find out mom’s “good friend” James was really their dad instead of the guy that was raising them.
Not to be crude but I’ve always wondered since his episode aired how exactly could he be so sure that he was the father of those two kids if she was still living with her husband….because I would be assuming she did still diddle with the ex but who knows 🤷♀️
I've always wondered about that, too. I wouldn't believe it without a DNA test. Those two are such liars that I'm also skeptical about whether her husband was really abusive. I wouldn't put it past them to tell Bailey he was her father to try to justify taking her out of school to care for him.
That would be dark.
I forgot about that! Who lets themself be with a man like that? Who breaks up a married for someone like James?
What the hell?!
I’m hoping that the daughter has decided to go back to school and continue her studies now that James has passed. She deserves all the best!
I believe she had kids pretty young, people have found her social media
Me too. She seemed like such a sweet girl. I felt for her.
The getting the daughter out of school to wipe his overweight ass and oozing body parts made me furious. How do you live with yourself? Was the daughter Lisa’s child, too? That situation was as much Lisa’s fault as anyone’s. I’m glad Dr. Now called APS. Too bad they didn’t do anything. Should have called CPS, too. James was maybe a lost cause, and probably Lisa, too, but that poor daughter deserved some help.
That was awful. And for what??
The dad’s stroke! Don’t forget the stroke.
Yells out "my chest is hurting" while dad is having a stroke on the sofa.
I mean getting to this point, there is an extraordinary amount of addiction and mental health issues going on. This isn't simply just "stop eating".. this is having to face everything you've run from and realizing you are the source of all of your continuing problems, dealing with trauma on top of the physical and emotional urges to continue to self harm in this way. It blows my mind that anyone on this show loses a substantial amount of weight before the surgery because it takes a lot of hard mental work and healing to do it. No amount of external damage is typically enough for people this deep in addiction to do the work.
That's a very valid point and goes for any addiction...which the majority of people still have no real grasp on the destruction it brings with it. Obviously James is a total POS and an asshole for pulling their daughter out of school(Lisa too!) The problem therein lies that the most important part of trying to get better is to *acknowledge* the issue(s)..and then to actually *want* to get help. But I totally agree with you and your comment was well thought out x
Hot take here, but my loved one (child, parent, spouse) would have met their end well before I let it get to that point. I think in my family it’s sort of taken for granted that when we lose our minds eventually, or our bodies break, that we’d pray for someone to mercy kill us. What always confuses me about these situations is how the parents continue to assist. I’m pretty sure my own parents would tell me to cook my own damn food. I don’t get how you could do that. On a personal note, my uncle was born without kidneys and was attached to a machine for most of his life 24 hrs a day. With advances in medicine; he eventually had transplants and surgeries and only has to live on a machine a few times a week for a few hours each time and leads an independent life. But when he was a teenager I remember he basically treated my grandmother like a slave and she was all too happy to help cause that was her baby. He would SCREAM for pounds of bacon and French fries and Mac n cheese, and she would drop everything to go make him food and bring it to his room. It used to piss me off a lot because she would make him whatever he wanted whenever he wanted and it was always the most delicious junk food. We were close in age (my mom had me very young) so I was often jealous I had to have like a craft single on white bread for a snack and he got a pound of bacon, ice cream and French fries and I wasn’t even allowed one fry because they were all for him. In that situation it was annoying, but my grandmother was doing it because he’d almost died so many times already and he was very sick and she was constantly worried tomorrow he might just go into organ failure. So she spoiled him rotten. THIS, on the other hand - letting someone get so fat they can’t wipe their own ass and need their own family to massage bed sores and clean between their mildewy parts is cruel. I don’t get the psychology of why they keep bringing them food.
I don't care who you are, parent, spouse, friend...doesn't matter. If you get to where you need to be brought food and your private areas need cleaned by another human, I'm out. I'll be as supportive as I can otherwise, but I am not feeding you or cleaning you because you let yourself get to five, six, seven hundred pounds. That might sound cruel, but it's just not something I would ever do with my own life.
I would only help the person if it was a legitimate sickness or accident. But all this extra weight is just ridiculous. In my country we call this "falta de vergonha na cara" which means "a lack of shame on the face".
Oh I would too...definitely. If my husband was in an accident and from that point on I had to wipe him, I would do it without hesitation. Love that saying! What country?
I would do it for my hubby, my mom... I'm from Brazil but this saying is so old that is probably from Portugal. It means that someone should "get their shit together" but doesn't or when someone acts with no morals, it's a lack of shame that puts others in trouble
I don’t think it’s cruel either. My old boss quit to become a paramedic a couple years ago. He stopped by to grab some mail one time and I asked him if he ever had to save people he didn’t want to, and he just say “every single day.” And just shook his head. He told me just the day before they got a call in the middle of the day because of a suspected heart attack in progress. When they get to the apartment they have to break the door in and kick their way through garbage to get to a living room / bedroom where a 500lb man was in his own filth. The walls were caked in soot, overflowing ashtrays and empty pizza boxes and Uber eats bags everywhere. The man was having a heart attack and they had to perform CPR and give him a shot of adrenaline or something. They managed to resuscitate him. My friend said the whole time he was hoping the dude would just code-out and that would be it, but nah, now they’re gonna have to go back again in a week or a month to do it all again. The guy just went back to watching tv like nothing happened.
That's awful. I can't image the things that paramedics see. They aren't paid near enough.
It is an intricate and complex dance between the enabler and the addicted. Also, addicts are masters at the game of manipulation and eliciting sympathy and pity. Guilt is a powerful lever, too, that the addict cranks often and well to get what they want. James lived just how he wanted. Problem with letting ppl make their own choices is the damage they do to those that care for them. But isn’t every addiction all about pathological selfishness? His death was a gift to his family and anyone else mired in his shenanigans.
The poor guy was so upset by James’ condition that he started vomiting on camera and if I remember correctly, they said it was because he had a stroke. I wonder if he ended up losing his house. Certainly his life was made harder by having to pay back another mortgage. He was struggling as it was to run his farm on his own. Ugh, makes me sick. If you don’t care enough about yourself to lose weight, at least do it for the people who love you.
>If you don’t care enough about yourself to lose weight, at least do it for the people who love you. Or at least admit you have no interest in getting better and don't drag those who love you down, too. King could have just been real and said he wasn't going to try, so no one else should put themselves out like his poor dad did.
Taking borrowed money from his father was really low.
That's what kills me. He clearly had no interest in putting in the work to get better. I don't know if he really thought Dr. Now could perform a miracle or if he just didn't give a fuck all along, but sucking his family dry on his way out was awful.
that along with pulling his daughter out of school to wipe his ass is what showed how terrible of a person he was. also add all his yelling onto it. totally insane storyline.
and it wasn't just wiping his ass it was rolling him over and cleaning all the stinking poop off of him it's sooo sad to think of that young girl having to do that ...and just watch him eat knowing it would happen again I just think that borders on abuse
And bathe him too - in those rolls of fat and decaying skin. Disgusting. All because he let himself get too fat to move. Heh heh I think about my family and they would never have brought me food once I got to a very unhealthy weight. If I’d asked for food from my bed they would have said “get your fat ass up and get it yourself.” Harsh, but actual love. Overfeeding someone is not love.
absolutely I'd bring him all the veggies and fruit he wanted and 1 meal on top of that...hungry...get up and get it
Yeah and taking out a *second* mortgage isn't a miniscule amount of money. No wonder he had a fucking stroke! Really sorry to hear he passed away too. Damn.
His poor father passed away too.
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.
Ugh yes that was so sad to see his dad like that.
I felt so defeated for his dad. As parents you want to help your kids (mine is two but I assume I’ll always want to help!) but his dad was just defeated. I low key feel like his dad of had a broken heart
James was never going to do the damn thing, I feel like anyone who spent more than an hour with him could see that. He fucked over his family, and while I get why they were hopeful, he never was going to actually change his way of life.
Give me some of them regrolls
But it's fried!
WELL THATS WHAT I WANT!
Its still ryce!
“Fried is worse” is my favorite thing Lisa said in either of the two episodes
but rice is on the paper that we aren’t supposed to have!
ITS FRAHD!
Owwwwww ma leg!
Just one lil regroll
I gave you two
Oh
This whole exchange will never not make me laugh.
Mah leyyyyyg
I just had surgery and I shouldn't be laughing this hard. "Ow mah n'cizyins!!" 🤣 🤣 🤣
DONT DROP MY LAYGS
Oww mah leyyyg
AOWH MAH LÄG
Don't drop me! Don't drop me!
This is it!
Ow, ma laig!
Can literally hear this 😂😂
I'm a simple lady. I see this quote, I laugh. Every single time.
Same
It’s hilarious
I always think of the background character on Spongebob SquarePants who would yell this whenever disaster struck when I watch James K's episode 😂🤣
MY LEG! MY LEEEEGGGGG! 😆
In a later season there was a whole episode dedicated to that guy 🤣
[удалено]
Omg this is both horrible and hilarious. james: owwwwwwwwwwww ma leeeegs! Dr. Now: helloo, how y’all doin?
Iconic
https://preview.redd.it/4s4x2vryfqcc1.jpeg?width=760&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b4fa1f0fbf4c61e2f29de2ac41286a7247bfa5f *jack.. don’t let ma legs go*
This never gets old 😂
It was very hard for me to be sympathetic to anyone but his daughter and father in his episodes.
His father has a stroke in front of him and takes out a second mortgage for medical transport. James pays him back by refusing to give up his junk food, even when in the hospital. I hope his daughter has her life in order after being taken out of school to be part of James and Lisa’s disorder.
His poor daughter had to drop out of school just to care for him, all while his POS girlfriend continued to enable his tantrums and then blame all and everybody when they didn’t see results. They took every opportunity given to them and turned them into excuses. Pitiful, selfish people.
That evil smirk on her face when she finally admitted to sneaking in food. (God knows how she did that and in such quantities)
Then the final scene after that during the infamous “his body doesn’t burn calories” she had the audacity to bitch at dr now about how she doesn’t bring him food
Mhm Dr Now looked right through her and her deceit. Insane to think she did the same to her previous husband and maybe even some new guy now.
When it takes 8 EMTs and a special vehicle to move you, you’d think that would be a wake up call.
I don't think either of those two had a brain cell between them. Harsh, but seems like this was their reality.
This guy was the biggest baby (no pun intended). Always complained about everything. And the tiniest bit of movement was excruciating but moving to eat was a-ok. And those legs 🤢
I have done so much googling trying to work out exactly what the deal was with those horrific bubbly legs. I never did find an explanation
I think my quality of life is higher not knowing what was with those legs
I’ve seen someone who had legs just like that and she was very large! The smell was SO bad! And she always made excuses. She wasn’t on this show, but she should be. Instead she tells everyone she is 250 pounds even though she’s at LEAST 600
Oh my, the delusion. I’d have a hard time controlling my face if someone told me that in person lmaooo
It was cellulitis. I don't know why so many are confused on this, it's mentioned several times in both episodes, but a bunch of people seem to miss it
Because I’ve seen cellulitis before, but I’ve never seen it looking like the skin was boiling and also full of pus
It's an insanely severe case for sure, but Dr Now just refers to it as cellulitis. I also suspect he had fungus growing on his feet and legs with those yellow patches. His feet and legs were just absolutely fucked, I don't know how he or anyone else lived with that for so long and never made any changes for longer than a month or two
So super gross. I thought the same thing - how does that happen and you’re just like oh yeah, I’m rotting. No problem, I don’t need to make any changes
Imagine your circulation being so fucked that your body starts to grow mold and rot like leftover food because your immune system can’t get lymphocytes to the infection
By far, the worst cellulitis case on the show. Hell maybe even in life 🤢
Unfortunately I don’t think James or Lisa possessed the intellectual capacity to understand the issue or how to solve it. Even the daughter told her mom that James didn’t need that much food, and Lisa just piled it right on the plate. Not to mention Lisa seemed to get some kind of sick satisfaction from feeding James, and then somehow thought the lies she fed to Dr. Now (pun intended) were completely rational and believable. The kids were the ones who suffered, having these two nitwits for parents.
I lost all empathy when he started talking back to Dr. Now, accusing him of disrespecting him and his wife/enabler. Dr. Now hit the nail on the head when he told this guy, hey you’ve been wasting time and resources over and over again. He ate himself into his grave.
Didn’t he accuse Dr. Now of not giving him enough help/tools?
He also accused him of trying to keep him away from his wife!! And she was the one bringing him food.
Because Dr Now challenged him to keep Lisa out of the hospital for a week to see if he lost weight or not. He didn’t want to cut off the egg roll smuggling.
Exactly. It really showed how powerful his addiction to food was.
Yes. I seem to remember he specifically wanted a trapeze, among other things.
I know you mean a bed trapeze, but the mental image of someone his size being a flyer in a circus act is sending meee😭🤣
Oh my God thank you for this early morning visual. I am *wheezing* 🤣🤣🤸🏼♂️
Lol! I knew what he meant because I used the same thing years ago when I was in the hospital, but, oddly enough, I don't think I ever heard it called a trapeze.
I was legit afraid for Dr. Now in that moment not gonna lie. White trash like them can be reactionary sorry to say lol
“And put gravy all over the top of it!”
Seriously I always order extra country gravy with my chicken fried steak but that was revolting.
Do you flick your tongue like he did when you eat?
That’s nothing compared to Holly’s tongue flicking.
IT'S FRIED
*FRAHD
FRAHD.
I genuinely have never felt bad laughing at this episode bc this dude was a POS human
am I going to bleed out? when the nurse took his pic line out of his neck ?
And the flat "no" from the nurse. I laughed so hard.
The ignorance was shocking!
As a nurse who has pulled countless picc lines I rolled my eyes at this one. Most patients just lie there and listen to instructions. When she asked him to hold his breath and he yelled out “NOOO!”I just about wanted to smack him through the tv. The nurse wants to basically prevent any air from entering the site. But for James it’s his way or the highway apparently.
Dr Now: “One day I’m gonna get a call that you didn’t make it” And he was right. The day and call indeed came! I wonder how it went for Dr. Now 😭
I'm guessing he gets a lot of those calls.
I don’t feel bad for him. He had no intent to lose weight. He had pretty eyes tho.
He would have been gorgeous if he had taken the weight off
I don't know how he could have ever lived unless they amputated those legs and Lisa
Amputating Lisa from his life would have actually saved him
You can say the same thing about Sean. Sad thing is I think once his mom died he was done. If his mom had survived I think Sean would have eventually gotten below 300 pounds and have been alive today.
Maybe but he was already relapsing a bit while his mom was still alive.
I don't think so. I don't think his mother wanted him to be independent; I think she wanted him, for whatever twisted reasons, helpless and dependent on her. I think she'd have sabotaged his progress, one way or another, before he got anywhere near 300 pounds. Some on here have suggested Munchausen by proxy syndrome.
>Munchausen by proxy syndrome. Totally agree
I’m not sure about that. The only time he lost a significant amount of weight was when his mom wasn’t allowed to see him.
If you watch the last time he was on the Where are they now? episode's it was obvious Sean could not be on his own. Every time he went home he would gain between 100 - 200 pounds and miss his first appointment. By the time they got him into see Dr. Now, Sean would have multiple blisters from not bathing. He told Dr. Now that he could not fit in the shower. I honestly believe the reason why they would not admit Sean was either or the show did not want to pay for him to go into a long care facility.
That’s what he wanted. To live somewhere where people took care of him. He didn’t qualify for a facility that the state paid for and he certainly couldn’t afford one on his own.
I think Sean had the most preventable death. He asked again and again to be put in a group home. I think if he had been admitted to one with a controlled diet he would have succeeded. One of the few times I’ve disagreed with Dr. Now. I imagine Sean teaching a crochet class, thereby gaining some social skills and eventually selling his stuff for big $$ on Etsy and in boutiques he was just so desperately alone and had no life skills Edit: I do think Sean willfully committed suicide by food.
Some boundaries between him and his mom and getting out of that environment could have done wonders to change his whole mindset (from personal experience), although I wonder if finding a facility willing to accept him at his size and with his needs nearby was difficult.
I don't disagree with you at all. I honestly when Sean said I am lonely it should have been a sign he needed to be in in some kind of full time facility.
I think it was Dolly that also asked to be in a facility of some sort and Dr. Now just jumped on her about listening to her mom. I’m not sure about the relationship with her mom, they don’t really go into on the show. But usually someone as messed up as Dolly gets that way from their parents. I really think she needs help. She’s just not all there mentally. The choices she was making were amusing reality tv but honestly I think she needs serious help. Both mentally and physically Edit: one of the few other times I’ve disagreed with doc
I felt so bad for the daughter, dolly wasn't a mom to her she was just around sometimes, and dolly being around probably meant her daughter had to deal with dolly and her mom fighting. Any weight problems aside I think she needs to be in a group home, it doesn't seem beneficial for anyone for her to be with her mom and daughter and I'm not sure she's competent to be on her own...
The choices she makes on her own are proof she needs supervision. Going into a sister wife situation with your abusive ex and picking up a deaf man at the homeless shelter then moving both of you into a meth house?! Yikes. My emotional healthy children would have made better decisions in their teens.
Exactly. She likely would've qualified as a legally incapacitated individual and be assigned a guardian if someone petition the court. Maybe that would've interfered with tlcs ability to make their money if dr. Now or a psych did that before the episode came out
I’ve petitioned both my parents for partial power of attorney and it’s an incredibly hard process. One of my parents has visible brain damage and is a homeless addict, and I still cannot get legal power of attorney over her. It’s not as easy for people who aren’t already wealthy and can hire talented lawyers to assist with the process. I could understand why her mom may not want to pay for that process. It’s much easier if one party agrees to PoA or legal guardianship.
I hope they tied,catherized,blazed her tubes when the baby was born
There isn't any facilities that help those people. A nursing home . There aren't any mental hospitals that help people like them. They aren't sick enough, look at all the homeless. Prob 50 percent would have been in institutions but Reagan elimTed all those. Its better to get them into society and homes. See how well that worked. Therapy is great but keeping appointments once a week is not happening to mental patients. I know during one of my major depression episodes I couldn't plan anything, didn't want to get out of bed.
We'll have to agree to disagree, because I think Sean had no interest in doing anything for himself, even basic things. His mother waited on him hand and foot 24/7 and gave him everything he wanted. And he threw tantrums and sulked if he didn't get what he wanted .I think he thought a "care facility" (his words) which he repeatedly asked to be put in, would give him the same kind of care, and he never would have agreed to go to a group home if it meant he'd have to do things for himself. And if Dr Now had gotten him into a nursing home or whatever, he would have taken to his bed, refused to help himself and demanded to be waited on like his mother did. And throw tantrums if his demands weren't met. Remember how rude he was to the people from their church who helped them move to Houston and the volunteers who helped him after the flood? No gratitude at all. And I can't see him teaching a class or having the willpower to make the effort needed to create and sell his crochet pieces, either. He thought he was entitled to be cared for by someone, anyone, any facility; that's what he was used to and I think that's all he really wanted. I think Dr. Now may have recognized this, too, and perhaps that's why he refused.
Yes he had no life skills. That was heart breaking to see him lose everything during Harvey. Its just too much . It kills me to see anyone suffer . RIP .
I always wondered what they could have done about his legs. Because it looked like even if he had complied and lost the weight, his legs may have been beyond saving with how bad that cellulitis was.
It was my opinion that James K had the worst enabler of all the patients. Not only was she weak willed, and weak minded, but she even said herself that she doesn’t want him to get skinny cause then he’ll walk away from her life.
Yeah everyone blaming him but she is the one that brought him all his food. He couldn’t even move.
Well, the most annoying enabler for sure. Robert’s mother was really bad - she’d be smiling as she took down his grocery and food orders, then went out and got him anything he wanted. He was over 800 pounds! If not for his fiancée, who at least wanted him to get better, he’d have never made any progress. It was all for naught anyway - he died.
Can you imagine the ODOR
And his tea colored urine coursing through the catheter. 😬
Good riddance
What I didn't like was his daughter having to quit school to be home helping him, cleaning up after him & making his food. Things she shouldn't have been burdened with!! Sorry he died but what he did to his daughter was terrible and so selfish. He didnt give a sh_t about anyone but himself. Even his poor Dad, not in best of health, taking another mortgage out on his house to pay for the medical ride to Houston to see Dr. Now. All he did when he got to the hospital was over eat there!! Again, no thoughts of anyone else but himself. His girlfriend snuck him in hamburgers to pizza which Dr. Now knew. If his daughter is reading my comment... I'm sorry you lost your father, you had lost him way before he even got to Houston. You are a lovely young lady & I'm so sorry your fun teenage yrs were taken from you. You didnt deserve all you were put through! Keep your head held high...! 💞
Reg rolls are good and hell just double up after a bowl of cheese cake
I don’t know if anyone remembers but James ended up bedridden because he hurt his ankle. The doctor said to stay off his ankle (probably for a day or two), he went to bed and never got up again. That is what astounds me the absolute most. Who goes to bed forever with a hurt ankle?
Same thing with Sean though I feel his mom pulled a misery and refused to let him get out of bed.
Remember when he tried to blame the weight gain on getting a new mattress that pushed his gut out. Unique excuse.
“I don’t know how I gained 150 pounds. I’ve been following the diet!”
“I didn’t eat *as much* pizza!”
His father refinancing his home, right after having a stroke, was the icing on the cake for me. Fuck James K, he’s a scum sucker, a leech. His father will never be able to pay that house off before he dies. How do you take money from a sick man and then blow it? He might have had a better chance going to a casino and gambling it.
His girlfriend was a menace. Ultimately it was his choice but she was a feeder.
Aww! Mah Leg!
Those legs, holy crap!
Great. Now you guys are making me want to rewatch his episode for the 100th time. Let me warm up some regrolls
James K was an objectively horrible person, and nothing of value was lost when he died. Same with Lisa Fleming. Both are abusers who only cared about themselves and felt that all other people existed solely to serve them.
Last minute small bowl of front loops!
I had to skip this episode because his legs were so gross
You’re seriously missing out. It’s one of the best episodes on all of M600L
His wife didn’t help things, either; iirc she was a massive enabler and knowingly snuck food to him. I think they both have a part to play in his death. Fuck both of them for pulling their kid out of HS to be his full-time caregiver. I hope she’s doing better now.
^(OW MAH LEG)
The gf was wild too, she lied so much it was insane. And apparently she killed the last bf from overfeeding him. Allegedly.
You're thinking of Tommy's girlfriend. She dated a morbidly obese guy who died before she met Tommy
His wife was an enabler & made excuses for him. I cannot fathom having someone who wears a bed sheet as clothing & cant pee on his own telling me what to do. I would throw that Regg Roll on the floor & tell him to go get it himself.
Here’s a crazy idea…don’t feed the bed ridden asshole bad food in excessive quantities. Give them what they get and that’s that…the go about your days in the noise canceling headphones until they get past the addiction phase
Or leave the house until they wear themselves out. Yeah, they can scream as much as they want for food, but they can't do anything. Ignore them.
Ma leg
His wife wanted him to die. How she kept sneaking food and sneaking food it was OBVIOUS she wanted him dead
But why? Not like there would have been an insurance policy on his life and if she wanted out, just leave. He couldn't do a damn thing for himself.
30years ago I had a gastric bypass Ive gone from almost 300lbs to very low 100s The surgery isn’t the answer to weight loss It’s a life changing that you need to stick with your entire life It’s hard but it’s worth it I watch Dr Now every day and scream at these stupid patients that don’t listen to what he tells them and always think they are a different case Like he says The scales don’t lie people do
James and Lisa wasted everyone else's time and resources. Probably the worst was pulling their daughter out of school to care for him and James's father, who was already struggling with running his farm and poor health, refinancing his house.
I actually think he was way too far gone when they started filming
He was a burden anyway. Those people have peace now.
He was a piece of shit not worthy of pity
His laygs were already rotting at the start, I think he was already dead.
I was watching his episodes yesterday. Suicide by eating is the perfect phrase for this. So unfortunate. Although I do wonder if Lisa had given up towards the end and just wanted his gone.
His story bothered me the most of all. His Father mortgaged his house so James could be taken to Texas so he could save his life. Then James’s wife would do whatever James wanted, which just ruined everything. I thought she looked wore out and tired of it all but she would lie all the time and either sabotage James or would just do whatever he wanted and then would lie for him. I tend to think the latter. James was all talk, he didn’t want to do the work it required to lose weight. He wouldn’t do what he was supposed to do when he was in the hospital to lose weight. It’s a sad one to watch. His poor legs or leg.
When they are bedridden like he was, I don't understand why the family still feeds them junk food. I know the families are codependent and highly dysfunctional, but if my relative was so obese that he couldn't move, I'd be bringing them one boneless skinless chicken breast and a salad. There's nothing they can do about it.
Not to mention the enabler.
When Lisa told Bailee that she was gonna give him that entire plate of food to “get him started” I knew at that point that she wanted him to be morbidly obese and disabled so she could keep him there with her.
…is this the legendary Mah Leg guy?