Woman succeeds in struggle to lose weight for transplant

YOUNGSTOWN - The kidney LaTanya Foster desperately needs was available in spring 2006, but she was ineligible to receive the life-saving transplant because she was too much overweight.

At the time, the 5 feet 9 1/2 inch Youngstown woman weighed 275 pounds and had a body mass index (BMI) of about 40. Most facilities require a BMI of 35 or less before they will do a transplant.

At her heaviest, Foster said she weighed 315 pounds, but said a lot of that was fluid she lost when she started dialysis four years ago.

"I was a big chick," the now slimmed-down Foster said with a laugh.

She now weighs in at about 222 pounds, has a BMI of 32, and is high on the list for a transplant, said Dr. John G. Zografakis, medical director of Summa Health System's Bariatric Care Center in Akron.

However, getting to that desired position was not an easy matter.

Foster's efforts to lose weight on her own were not successful, so she decided to undergo laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), known as lap-band, surgery to lose the necessary weight.

In May 2006, she had her first consultation with Dr. Zografakis, and had the surgery on Aug. 15, 2006.

Foster is a "model patient," said Dr. Zografakis, who is also an assisant professor of surgery at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com