Meet Michelle and Thomas DeMange and you might never suspect these siblings had spent decades struggling with their weights. The pair are active, hardworking and outgoing—often entertaining friends and family in the home they share. But spend some time with the brother and sister and they’re happy to talk about the incredible success they have had losing weight with the help of Lowell General Hospital Weight Management + Bariatric Surgery.
Although their mother always served healthy meals, life, stress and a tendency to binge eat caused their weights to creep up as they became adults. Both had intensely physical jobs, Michelle as a cardiac nurse taking care of the sickest patients and Thomas as a printer—lifting heavy reams of paper and maneuvering around machinery. At their heaviest, Michelle was 385 pounds while Thomas was close to 600 pounds. The weight was taking its toll—sleep apnea, knee pain and the psychological effects of living in a heavier body were becoming too much.
In 2016, on a whim, Michelle signed up for an information session with the Center’s dietitian. “I walked in with my 20-ounce Coke,” Michelle remembers. “I wasn’t even sure I was going to stay—I still thought of surgery as cheating, I figured I’d rather stay heavy.” But Michelle isn’t the kind of person to give up. Working with her team of dietitians, nurse practitioners, doctors, surgeons and psychologists, Michelle began to make changes in her thinking and habits that helped her lose nearly 75 pounds even before she underwent bariatric surgery in 2019. Almost four years after surgery, all of Michelle’s hard work is paying off. “I’m 140 pounds and my life is so much better—I can do things I couldn’t do before. I am a different person and I am so much happier. I can move.”
Thomas watched as Michelle reaped the benefits of the program but he stopped short of considering it himself. “I was scared,” Thomas says. “Even seeing how well Michelle was doing, I was afraid they were going to open me up and find cancer or something was going to go wrong.” But when Thomas collapsed at work and was rushed to the hospital he had a wake-up call. Atrial fibrillation, compounded by the sleep apnea, put him at serious risk of dying. He also needed a knee replacement he could not get without losing weight.
Thomas turned to his sister for advice. “She told me ‘if I can do it, you can do it.’ So, I made an appointment for an information session and went from there.” With Michelle as his inspiration, Thomas committed to the program. His sister and dedicated team were by his side every step of the way and he underwent bariatric surgery in August of 2022 and is now successfully recovering from his knee replacement. Currently at 230 pounds, Thomas says “I feel 100% better, it’s absolutely life-changing. You learn how to live differently. I just went to my 40 year high school reunion and people were amazed, it felt fantastic. I feel wonderful.”
Along with their own hard-work, Michelle and Thomas are grateful to their care teams. “The care we received is excellent,” Michelle says. “The education, the surgery and the follow-up are spot on. If I have a question I know that they’ll be there for me and listen to me and help me be successful.” Thomas agrees, “I’m a year out but they follow up with me and I know I can talk to them about anything.”
Nurse Practitioner Laura Jarosz worked with both siblings: “Michelle and Thomas’ success is a testament to their hard work, commitment and why it’s so important to work with an accredited program and have a dedicated team of experts on your side throughout the process.”
Although their paths to a healthier weight and lifestyle were different, when asked what they would tell others considering weight management and surgery, they have the same answer: “I wish I had done it years ago.”
