14 DAY TRIAL // Manuel Uribe from Mexico, acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2006 as the heaviest man in the world, has died. At his heaviest, Manuel tipped the scales at 1,230 pounds (560 kg) but he never stopped hoping he would lead a normal life again. He was 48 years old.
Ratified as the world’s heaviest man in 2006, just a couple of years later, Manuel made headlines again, this time for losing an incredible number of pounds: almost half his body weight, 550 pounds (250 kilograms), thanks to a combination of dieting, surgery, and counseling.
He remarried his ex-wife after this and was very optimistic about the future, even telling the press that he was hoping they could finally get started on a family.
The Daily Mail reports that Manuel died on May 2 and that his passing is confirmed by an “official of the health department of Nuevo Leon state, where the city of Monterrey is located.” The other day, his body was taken to be cremated.
He had apparently been rushed to the hospital for an abnormal heartbeat but he is also believed to have suffered from liver problems for some time.
Official confirmation of Uribe’s cause of death is still pending. He had been bedridden since 2002 and, despite the amazing weight loss, he never regained mobility. The British publication says he had to be taken to the hospital for one last time in one of those enforced vehicles, in an intervention that also required the use of a special crane and several civil defense workers.
Embedded below is a segment from the TLC documentary on Uribe’s struggle to lose weight, aptly titled “World’s Heaviest Man.” It details how Uribe had always been prone to gaining weight but things got completely out of control during the years he and his wife lived in the US.
He said that, because of his job, he had suddenly started leading a sedentary life, while his diet mostly included fast food and calorie-laden snacks.
By the time they returned to Mexico, he was already obese and had developed two tumors in one thigh that made it impossible for him to walk. Doctors operated on him in the hope of restoring his mobility and thus boost his chances of losing weight, even though the procedure was a first in the country.
At the time the documentary was shot, Uribe’s wife had left him and he was being cared for by his mother, who is shown in the video preparing him breakfast and making sure he has a bottle of soda at the ready to wash it down with.
*Please note that discretion is recommended when viewing the documentary segment because it contains images that might upset you.
Uribe and his wife remarried after he lost half his body weight some time later but, despite his high hopes that he would actually get to walk down the aisle for his “I Do,” he had to be carried on the same bed he had been living on for the past few years, decked in white satin and adorned with a canopy for the special occasion.
