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To Whom it may concern:
My name is Rick McColley, I am 55 years old. I weighed 536 lbs on May 11th, 2004. I moved from Curacao to Costa Rica in that same month. I boarded the plane in Curacao after they wheeled me to the plane in a wheel chair, flew to Caracas, Venezuela then to San José, Costa Rica, using a wheel chair with every change of planes.
 I have been on diets my entire life and like most obese people have lost probably 500 lbs or more using all of these different diets. I was mainly bed ridden when I arrived in Costa Rica, only to roll out of bed in the morning and go to work, to a job where I sit in front of a computer 10 to 12 hours a day. Once the days work was over I would go back home, go to bed and wait for my wife and kids to wait on me hand and foot, never leaving my bedroom until the next day, when it was time to go through the same routine. I wasn’t living a good quality life; I was just existing, like most of the many obese people in the world. The time I enjoyed with my family was going out to the mall or to the movies and having my oldest son push me around in a wheel chair, and that was only when I could drag myself out of bed to do it, once a month at the most.
I finally decided I had two choices, I could either lay in bed and wait for the inevitable end to come or I could decide my own fate, so once again I decided to go to the gym and try the diet route. This time it was a little better, I lost about 90 lbs going to the gym 2 hours a day and 5 days a
week, but again just like always it stopped, the weight stopped dropping and I got discouraged and started eating again, and I was back on the same roller coaster I had been on my entire life.
I decided it was time to seek some real medical help because my legs were no longer able to support my weight, I was falling down, not able to even get in and out of my car without my legs going out from underneath me. I went to an orthopedic doctor in Costa Rica to seek help for my knees and legs, after the examination he told me he could give me injections that would help me some but the only real help for me was to get the weight of my legs. While I was sitting in his office he picked up the phone and called the office of Doctor Guillermo Suarez and asked the secretary if he could see me and he agreed to see me at that time. I went right from there up to his office and that was the best day of my life.
Doctor Suarez sits and explained everything to me in detail, he told me all of the different types of surgeries that were available for me and his recommendation was the gastric bypass. He told me because I was so morbidly obese that I needed a severe change in my life and something that would get this weight of fast and keep it off. I must have had 3 or 4 appointments with Doctor Suarez before we finally got all of the exams done and set a date for the surgery. I don’t mind telling you I am the biggest coward in the world, I need novicane just to make a dentist appointment, let alone go through the procedure so I tried everything in the world to back out of this and every reason why I couldn’t or shouldn’t do it. Thanks to Doctor Suarez every time I had a reason not to do it he gave me 10 reasons to do it and he finally convinced me that I had no choice. It was the best decision in my life; my only regrets are that I didn’t do it much earlier than I done it.
I checked in the Cima hospital on the morning of the 20th of June, 2005 bright and early, I wasn’t bushy tailed but I was bright and early. They checked me in at 6:00am, took me right up to the room, weighed me, I weighed in at a real nice 436 lbs. I said to my mom, look I have lost almost a 100 lbs since last year maybe I really don’t need this operation after all. You never know it was worth one last try to get out of it, but to no avail. I went into the room changed my clothes put a couple of those stupid gowns on that won’t fit a normal person let alone someone like me so I had one in the front and one in the back, and then they put me on the bed and wheeled me down.
 I went through the procedure and to be as honest as I can be I never had one minute of pain, the most pain I ever felt was when they put the needle in my arm to put me to sleep. It will be two years the 20th of this month since I had my operation, I weigh 245 lbs right now as I am writing this letter and I have lost weight every time I have been back to see Doctor Suarez. I went from a 74 waist to a 42 waist that I have right now, I have never felt better in my entire life. I have never had one minute of discomfort from this procedure and it has changed my life so much it is hard to describe in words. I think the biggest difference for me is that I can think about many more things than food. I eat many times a day now but I can’t eat much when I eat and because I am not hungry like before it helps me make better choices as to what I eat. I don’t deprive myself of anything now, if I want to eat something I do but I never get those cravings like I had before, you all know what they are, the ones that drive us crazy and we cant live without that one certain food. It is such a good feeling not to have to depend on other people for your very existence, I am now able to walk as long and as far as I like. I take my kids to the mall, to the movies, I am never home now I go anywhere I want anytime I want. The last time I can remember weighing 245, I think I was in the 4th grade. I am now in the process of having my first plastic surgery to remove all of the excess fat and skin that is hanging, and believe me it is hanging.
I would recommend this procedure to anyone who is morbidly obese and I have nothing but the most positive results from this surgery. I wish to thank everyone who played a major part in me having this surgery, all of the medical professionals involved, Cima Hospital and it’s entire staff, and especially Doctor Guillermo Suarez, who is not only a great surgeon but one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. He is in my opinion the utmost professional and I can’t thank him enough for his help, and the help of his entire staff.
If anyone has any questions about what I have been through with this procedure and you are seriously considering this procedure and would like to talk to me personally, please feel free to contact me by email or by telephone, which I will include at the end of this letter. If anyone would like to come to Costa Rica and have this procedure done feel free to contact me and I would be happy to help in anyway that I can with any reservations of any kind. You owe this to yourself and don’t wait to do it, don’t let life pass you by and sit there and watch others enjoy it around you. It has been two short years for me and 190 lbs less. You are going to lose time with everyday that passes, you can lose weight with the days passing also. I don’t have a dog in this fight, I don’t make one red cent from anyone nor do I want to make anything from anyone but from one caring human being to another, make this life changing decision. Life is nothing but choices and if you haven’t made this choice yet I strongly suggest that you consider it in the near future and you will be happy that you did
May God Bless all of you.
Kindest Regards,
Rick McColley
Cell phone: 506-364-1675
Home phone: 506-239-5768
Email allworld123@hotmail.com
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