Teen fights for her life, one pound at a time6 months after surgery, Alexis Khan still works to drop weight By Jill Coley (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Monday, April 28, 2008
Grace Beahm Alexis Khan, 16, helps serve lunch at Chautauqua Day School on Johns Island. Khan, who had gastric bypass surgery six months ago, has lost 63 pounds. She hopes to eventually get down to 110 pounds. When Alexis Khan saw images of herself taken six months ago, before she underwent gastric bypass surgery, she was shocked. Alexis, 16, weighed 243 pounds, more than two and a half times the 100 pounds recommended for her 4-foot-11-inch-tall body. She had diabetes and sleep apnea and was borderline hypertensive. Her mother, Gina Khan-Debrum, was acutely aware of the dangers her daughter faced. "Everything was spiraling out of control," she said. Mother and daughter took a last, drastic effort to avert a future of disastrous health consequences. In October, Alexis underwent gastric bypass at Medical University of South Carolina. The surgery reduced her stomach from the size of a large grapefruit to the size of an egg. Alexis is now more than 60 pounds lighter. She can shop off-the-rack at her favorite store, Aeropostale, and fits into a size 12. She walked the Cooper River Bridge Run in 2 hours and 22 minutes. Driving is easier. She got a job working with small children, whom she loves being around because they don't judge, she said. The procedure was not a magic bullet, however. She has fought for every pound she's lost, at a rate of about 2 pounds a week. She can only eat a few bites of food at a time, about every four hours. Two California sushi rolls are a meal, she said. To ensure success, she will never be able to eat more than one and a half cups of food in one sitting. So far, she has had no nausea or vomiting, a side effect called "dumping" that occurs when food rapidly enters the small intestine. Alexis and her mother did not rush headlong into bariatric surgery, but nothing else had worked in Alexis' lifelong struggle. Three times, she has successfully followed a medically prescribed high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. At age 14, she slimmed down to her lowest weight, 153 pounds. But whenever the carbohydrates were reintroduced, the weight returned. Previous storyThe losing begins for local teen published 11.13.2007 While eating basically a starvation diet, Alexis suffered symptoms of malnutrition. Her hair fell out by the handful. With gastric bypass, however, she can eat an array of nutritious food, plus vitamin supplements, leaving her hair shiny and her skin clear. "She's never been able to eat like a normal child," Khan-Debrum said. "Even before her first birthday, people questioned what I fed her." In California, doctors enlisted Khan-Debrum and Alexis in a 30-day program for observation, thinking Khan-Debrum had Munchausen by Proxy, a psychological condition in which a caregiver makes a loved one sick to gain attention. The doctors later apologized. A string of endocrinologists and geneticists have studied Alexis and found no clear cause for her weight issues. Her rounded face and the fat around her neck suggested Cushing's disease, an endocrine disorder cause by high levels of cortisol in the blood, but blood tests lacked evidence. The weight loss plateaus occasionally, which is hard for Alexis and her mother. "You see her eat these tiny amounts, and the scale doesn't change," Khan-Debrum said. "I hate the scale," Alexis said. But eventually, another pound melts away. Alexis walks for about two hours every day. Recently, one morning, she returned from a walk that broke into a run. She told her mother she "felt free." Her sleep is more restful, too. The weight she retains around her neck still affects her breathing at night, but it's getting better. "I never had a lot of dreams," she said. She stopped taking her diabetes medication within weeks of the surgery. And her cholesterol and blood pressure have dropped to healthy levels. Alexis hopes to get down to 110 pounds. But even then, the war will not be over. Reach Jill Coley at 937-5719 or jcoley@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 25 comment(s)
Posted by lilharleymoma on April 28, 2008 at 5:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Alexis, I am proud of you! My dad had this surgery done 7yrs ago and he has lost upwards of 275lbs. Keep doing what your doing, following properly with your doctors and you will have success....Keep up the good work!!
Posted by granny2 on April 28, 2008 at 6:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I am so glad that you are doing ok. Hang in there and hold your head up high. Keep us informed on your progress, I'm sure you will have a bright furture. God Bless.
Posted by ForPnC on April 28, 2008 at 7:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Alexis - I was thinking about you the other day and here you are! I know it's hard but keep up the great work!
Posted by jmw29410 on April 28, 2008 at 8:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Someone I used to date had the same procedure several years ago. Her before and after pictures are incredible, as are yours. Be proud of yourself, girl!!
Posted by prettytee4 on April 28, 2008 at 8:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Congrats! You look awesome! Keep doing what you are doing and you will see lots of change. I am so happy for you.
Posted by Early on April 28, 2008 at 8:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Keep up the good work, this determination will help you as you get older.
Posted by summerville_guy on April 28, 2008 at 8:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This has got to be tough on Alexis and her family, but it looks like they are taking the right steps to ensure her health. Good job!
Posted by ColdBeer on April 28, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You know, it's great that she's doing well, but this story should have never been in the paper in the first place. OK, so you're fat and now you're losing weight. THAT'S never been done before! Sounds like someone in the family, my guess is mom, wants her 15 minutes of fame, even if through her daughter.
Let me recap... parents let daughter get fat (no mention in any of the articles of any medical condition that would have caused the fat, only medical conditions resulting from fat). Daughter tries to lose weight, is successful, but can't stick to the program. Parents let daughter get dangerous, highly controversial procedure to correct a situation they should have prevented from happening in the first place. Parents (or someone) make sure the P&C is kept up to speed on every step of the process.
I hope the girl does well.
I'm not impressed with her parents or the P&C for covering this National Inquirer type stuff.
Posted by LowcountryMoose on April 28, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's pitiful that this girl had to undergo major life-changing surgery. A proper diet and a little bit of exercise would have prevented this. South Carolina is like a glowing red beacon on national maps of per capita diabetes rates. Parents, somehow, need to learn about and practice healthy nutrition for themselves and their families.
Sugar puts a greater strain on the health care system in America than tobacco and alcohol do. People need to eat less processed crap food. Families on government supported food programs should only be allowed to buy wholesome foods with our taxpayer money. Schools with the majority of students on free or reduced lunch shouldn't be allowed to have soda and candy machines either.
Posted by LadyTarHeel on April 28, 2008 at 10:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Way to go Alexis!
Coldbeer: I read in the previous articles that they had exhausted all other methods of weight loss and physicians could not determine what was making her gain weight. This was the last resort.
Posted by coolfreaknbeans on April 28, 2008 at 11:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Good for you!It's easy for others to say,well just eat less and exercise.Most of those people have never had to take on the battle against obesity.I personally haven't.But I have family who has.I have always eaten way more and been less active than my obese family members.So not everyone who is obese is a lazy overeater.There have been studies that show for unknown reasons gastric bypass surgery eleminates diabetes-almost instantly.(so it's not weight loss related)It happened to my sister,went in for bypass and was told no more diabetes meds-you're done.It is a last resort.But it's a valueable option that saves lives.
Posted by ColdBeer on April 28, 2008 at 11:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
LadyTarHeel, I read the previous articles too. They pointed out that she had success with losing weight and then sort of "fell off of the wagon" and regained the weight. Physicians can't figure out what's making her gain because eating too much food is not a medical disorder. The mom can say she had her on a diet all she wants. Since a medical condition did not exist, she was simply taking in more calories than she was burning off.
Like I said, I'm glad she's doing well, but her parents ought to be ashamed for letting her get in the condition she was in and they should also be ashamed for turning her life in to a freak show like circus in the P&C now.
Posted by crankyyankee on April 28, 2008 at 12:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Not only do these tubs fill up the handicapped parking spaces, their the ones that want the thermostat set on 60 because their always hot! Funny how you don't see fat people in concentration camps. Seems the arguements about it being in your genes or a glandular problem doesn't hold water. To all of you with the blue handicapped placards on you rearview, being fat is not a handicap and you should be made to park as far away from the front door of the grocery as possible. Fattening foods should be so high on the store shelves that unless you can jump off the ground you can't reach them and the isles with fattening food should be so narrow only a walkway model can get down them. Please do not get on the motorized carts unless you are legless or paralyzed. I hate seeing some of these bemoths sitting on the cart with both cheeks dripping off the sides. They usually have cookies and cake and diet coke in their carts. Then there's the 300lb mother with the 200lb ten year old in tow eating as they go! Thanks for letting me vent. I feel much better now.
Posted by ColdBeer on April 28, 2008 at 12:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
LOL
Posted by BeefNBeanBurrito on April 28, 2008 at 1:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ok folks, there obviously is more to her than overeating. Look at her face. At the weight she is now her face should not look like that. If it was a case of the mother giving her kids too much food/junk then her brother too would be overweight. He's pretty normal and no one said the mother was overweight. The doctors hospitalized both the mother and the daughter and determined that there is something up they just don't know what. Just because a doctor can't diagnose an illness doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Lay off the meanness, it's unbecoming.
Posted by ColdBeer on April 28, 2008 at 1:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't think I'm being mean. I think I'm being truthful and I did my best to put out my opinion without being mean. If I had wanted to be mean I would have brought up my belief that fat people, by law, should not be allowed to wear tight fitting clothes. I kept that thought to myself though, 'cause I'm a nice guy :)
In all seriousness though, I think the whole medical angle is just another in a long line of excuses. Some people do have legitimate medical issues that cause them to gain weight. I do not think that is the case here.
Oh yea, please don't take my comments using the word "fat" the wrong way. I'm not talking about people with some extra weight on. I've seen some incredibly HOT looking women that were, in fact, overweight. I actually prefer a "healthy" woman to a "breakable" one <lol>. Obesity, on the other hand, is unacceptable.
Printing your daughter’s private and personal issues in the local paper for all to gawk at is also unacceptable.
Posted by ForPnC on April 28, 2008 at 2:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
For those of you that think the parents let her get this way, you're so ill-informed it's actually PATHETIC. Especially those that claim to read this paper. You've apparently forgotten what you've read in the past.
No diet helped this girl and they tried them all. Even hospitalization didn't help her. This was a last resort to actually save her very life.
You get it, girl! Glad you made it through it. You're doing great!
Side note to Coldbeer - Spandex should have a weight limit to it. I speak from the experience of not being able to wear it but I lost the weight and look damn great now!
Posted by BeefNBeanBurrito on April 28, 2008 at 2:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
First off, if you thought I was speaking (writing) to you then you must think you were somewhat being "mean". In reality I was posting to many here. While you may "think" it's not a medical issue you don't know. You don't know either the doctors, the mother and daughter or the reporter who reported this, therefore you cannot say with any certainty that it is not a medical issue. I can say, on the other hand, that her face does not look like it should based on her weight loss. The article and past articles state the doctors felt the same way but do not know what the cause maybe. As to the article out there for all, perhaps it's out there to help someone else or possibly some doctor in some far off place sees this article and knows exactly what her condition is. Perhaps the paper just wants to exploit the family. However, the paper (not the mother) is at fault here for allowing comments, especially those that maybe hurtful to the family. I've seen comments elsewhere on other papers in regards to stories such as the murder of a family where the father survived and immediately the posters blamed the father because he survived without knowing anything at all about either the family or the situation. Family members read these comments and were deeply upset.
Stop, think. Just because one posts here without being seen doesn't mean your comments won't be seen by someone who is close to the situation. Think, what if it were me. What if it were my sister, my brother, my mother before you make a comment that maybe hurtful.
Posted by ColdBeer on April 28, 2008 at 2:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good to hear ForPnC! Congrats on living healthier and being happier! Spandex, in the right hands (or should I say on the right thighs) can be a wonderful thing!
This is a direct quote from the first story on this little girl. The link to the article is in this article, above:
"Medically prescribed high-fat, low-carb diets worked for a while, but the weight returned."
I'm a smoker. Smoking is just as bad for you as being over weight. I'm not really slamming on people for being over weight; I'm slamming on her parents for broadcasting this little girls issue to the whole world. To me, it parallels Muchausm Syndrome (sp?). Using the daughter to get attention. There's no need for this to be in the papers. Since I believe the parents are at fault for letting her get in that condition in the first place, it's even that much more shameful. I may be proven wrong. Maybe some doctor will find a medical issue with this girl, give her some drugs or perform some surgery and solve the problem. I doubt it though. I think it's a simple case of over-eating and lack of parental control.
Posted by magoo on April 28, 2008 at 2:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Amen coldbeer, one question should the parents be held responsible for allowing there daughter to become over weight???and her mother letting her go on a starvation diet that caused her malnutrion. If you put an animal on astarvation diet you'd end up in jail.
Posted by LadyTarHeel on April 28, 2008 at 7:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What's with the fat bashing? I'm not HUGE but I'm not small. I eat healthy and I exercise 4 times a week, sometimes more. People look at me like I'm the most disgusting thing they have ever seen and they don't know half of the things that I go through. I was a size 11 until I was diagnosed with MS and pumped full of steroids for the past 6 years. So what, I'm what most consider to be overweight, but I'm healthy, so I think it's a fair trade off. I understand that we all have our opinions, but you should take into account the feelings of others.
I'm not speaking to one specific person, just got a bad vibe from some of the things that I read here today.
Posted by LadyTarHeel on April 28, 2008 at 7:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
crankyyankee: I am one of the "tubs" that take up handicapped parking as well.
Posted by RTC on April 28, 2008 at 8:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
LadyTarHeel, my brother in law's wife has lupus. Whenever she has a flare the docs put her on steroids. She is only 5 ft. tall, so she usually only weighs about 105lbs. The steroids blow her up about 3 or 4 sizes, and her face bloats. It is terrible for her. She just jokes that she has a closet full of so many sizes that it looks like her husband has several wives.
Hang in there, you can't help what these drugs do to you, and it's not your fault that you may often have trouble walking as many people that I know with MS do.
Too many people unfortunately use being overweight as an excuse to get a handicapped plate, and it is unfair to those that really do need one.
Posted by eyfigueroa on April 29, 2008 at 9:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Coldbeer: sorry buddy, can't back you up on this one. I normally agree with you but today you are just being nasty. However you do bring up very valid points (you too cranky!)
Too many parents, myself included either don't or didn't think that their own eating habits and lack of physical activities can affect their children. Many years ago, both of my girls were getting 'chunky'. One was 7 and the other was 11. You know what my pediatrician's response to me was when I complained about my kids overeating? "Your children eat only what you bring into the house and what you allow them to have when you're out"
That was a wakeup call. I allowed myself to gain a little weight after leaving the army because I refused to do any more "PT" but kept eating as I did when I was running 3-5 miles a day and 7 on ‘Sergeant Major' Friday. (You Army vets know what I'm talking about). I knew I couldn't blame anyone else for what I allowed to happen. I changed what I put into the shopping cart and dramatically lessened the amount of restaurant visits. Now my girls, though not anorexic skinny are happy healthy girls who understand the consequences to lethargy and bad eating habits. If they think they got lazy/chunky, they add more veggies and fruits and up the activity level. It works for them.
Conversely, after starting to work to, not get Army skinny, but to get healthier, I was struck down by a disease that had me take systemic and steroidal medications. I could drink water and still have an abnormally swollen fact, hands and stomach. Now that I'm healthy and off meds the 70lbs I gained was a not-so-small price to pay for living. Now I’m overweight and will have to work for years to lose it and my body make up will never be same but I get to see my daughters graduate from high school, college, get married, etc. Of course I’m waaaay older and the idea of doing a “Sergeant Major 7” terrorizes me! LOLOLOL
For you coldbeer: The mother and daughter were both hospitalized & because the mother was accused of "Munchausen by Proxy". The results were such that the medical doctors had to issue her an official apology. Something is going on with that girl. Her face and neck can tell you that. If surgery saved her life (which it did) then to mock her is ridiculous not to mention spiteful. Though we may never know the mom's TRUE motives for doing so, publicizing this very difficult journey will hopefully bring light to those who are often stigmatized, shamed and are desperately seeking, not a quick fix, but a legitimate means to achieving long term good health.
Posted by auntiesue on May 5, 2008 at 6:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Her mother should not EVER be ashamed of herself for this child's weight.This child has lived her entire life on restricted caloric intake including while being breast feed. Don't you think her mother would rather have had a normal weight child on the play ground at school or in public instead of having a child who people treated horribly? They both have been ridiculed for sixteen years for this medical problem.The fifteen minutes of fame is absolutely ridiculous. This newspaper article was to hopefully help anyone who may have suffered the same life Alexis and Gina had experienced. Do you honestly think any doctor would do this major surgery without years of documentation showing that this child does have a medical issue not just an eating disorder. Just because a test comes back negative does not mean she does not have the symptons. I myself can testify to negative test. My test kept coming back normal and only after surgery was I diagnosed with cancer. Just because a test shows normal does not mean normal for each person. This over weight issue was not just a simple eat less exercise more issue even though with all your medical knowledge you think it is that simple. All of those who posted negative comments to her mother should be ashamed of yourselves. You walk in her shoes one day and go to bed each night and wake up the next day to see what kind of person you are. Why would you think this article is displaying her daughter? Her mother did not go to the paper and ask that they put this story in the paper. When addressed with the possibility we all had a family discussion to see the negative and positive outcome. I myself looked at it as helping someone else that might suffer from the same problems Alexis has encountered. I never dreamed that there would be adults that wanted fifteen minutes of fame blogging something nasty. We as adults should show our next generation the right way by saying something positive and doing something positive instead of bashing. I have been there at most of the doctors appointments and hospilizations and there is absolutely no insurance company that would pay for all of this nor is there a doctor who would put his license on the line to just do this for her mother. It was to help this child and this surgery was hopefully an answer to years of suffering.Alexis was not home schooled until she moved to South Carolina and endured ridicule from the kids in school so please do not blame it on being home schooled.Ugly on the outside can be corrected but ugly on the inside last a life time. Change your life and we as Alexis's family will continue to make her life a better one each and every day.Read a good book, go for a walk, or volunteer today instead of bashing a mother and a child on the internet.