JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On Thursday, nearly two dozen people will be doing something they've never done before.
People who went through bariatric surgery, or weight loss surgery, will be getting up in front of a crowd and showing off how proud they feel in their own skin. It's for HCA Florida Memorial Hospital's bariatric surgery fashion show, which they haven't held since 2019.
First Coast News spoke with three patients who will be in the event and each say they experienced health problems and were drained both physically and mentally. They got emotional looking at old pictures. Now, they've shed hundreds of pounds and changed their lives.
"I knew that if I didn't do something, I wasn't going to be around," said Kevin Drawdy.
Drawdy weighted 480 pounds before his bariatric surgery in the fall of 2021. Now, he's nearly 300 pounds lighter. He says he did it for his grandson.
"I got told by doctors that I pretty much had a year and a half, two years before I was killing myself," he said. "Diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, everything you could think of, probably took about 30-something pills a day."
Drawdy notes he's sitting down in pictures with his grandson before his surgery. Now, he's able to play with his grandson and says he makes his daughter proud.
"I needed to be there for my family," Drawdy said.
Lynette Huey is now doing activities she always wanted to do. She decided to get the surgery before turning 50.
"I always wanted to do a Disney marathon," she said. "So, my daughter and I signed up. Crossing the finish line with her was one of the best things in my life."
Huey says she wants to be an advocate and wishes she had gotten the surgery sooner even though she had complications from it.
"People say it's the easy way out to have the surgery," Huey said. "I can tell you, it is not the easy way out. It is constant choices."
Huey is running half marathons and Drawdy is getting back into hunting, skydiving and scuba diving. Charles Linton says the health problems he experienced before his surgery are gone and he no longer needs medications.
"It's given me, really, my life back," Linton said. "If I can do it, you can do it, too. It is a mindset that you have to get and you have to be willing to make some changes. They're tough changes, but in the end, it's worth it."
Hear more stories at the HCA Florida Memorial Hospital event on Thursday. The bariatric fashion show is from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the hospital auditorium at 3625 University Blvd. South in Jacksonville.