SAN ANTONIO – South Texas kids are getting weight loss surgery in San Antonio and are now thriving.
Three years ago, KSAT went to CHRISTUS Children’s Hospital to report on its brand-new children’s bariatric surgery program.
Now, KSAT is circling back to see how two teenage siblings are doing three months post-surgery.
Hope and Gregorio Martinez sat next to each other for the KSAT interview, excited to share their triumphs together.
“She’s like my right-hand man,” said 16-year-old Gregorio Martinez.
“We just do everything together. It’s kind of like we’re interlocked,” said 18-year-old Hope Martinez.
The siblings are from Corpus Christi and had spent years trying to work out and eat well to lose weight, but their bodies just wouldn’t respond.
“I was always out of breath. They diagnosed me for asthma, and I would snore when I was asleep,” Gregorio said.
“At my school, I’m in the ROTC program. There’s a lot of physical training that comes with it, and it was kind of harder for me being the bigger girl. Not being able to keep up was kind of disappointing and degrading a little bit, so I was kind of ready to change,” Hope said.
When asked what they said spurred their decision to get surgery, they said, “Our mom got it and is doing great, so we knew it was a good option.”
So together, on the same day three months ago, they got a bariatric surgery called a sleeve gastrectomy, which removes about 80% of the stomach.
“It’s true that you lose a little bit of weight because the stomach is small or you can’t eat as much, but the real reason is that when you do that operation, the metabolism gets much more efficient. It’s like having a turbo engine in your car. The same amount of gas really, really hauls,” said Dr. Anne O’Connor, a pediatric bariatric surgeon.
Dr. O’Connor, who did the Martinez siblings’ surgery, moved to San Antonio specifically to become CHRISTUS Children’s Hospital’s bariatric surgeon. She said South Texas has some of the highest obesity rates in the country, and there has been a void in service in the area.
“As far as freestanding children’s hospitals, there are not many in the country. If we’re in the process right now of getting our certification, we would be the ninth in the country that does this for adolescents,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor said the surgery is safe and done with robotic technology, which is more precise and cuts down on recovery time. She has her patients spend just one night in the hospital, then advises them to get back to regular activities.
There are qualifications that need to be met for teens to get this surgery.
“The degree of obesity matters. It’s people who are in the category of severe obesity. If they have other health problems — like diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea — sometimes those problems are really bad and they’re not as heavy, but we still operate to cure those problems,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor said she is commonly asked why it’s important for teenagers to get this surgery instead of waiting until they are adults.
“To have somebody who only has had diabetes for a couple years versus 40 years, it’s not hard to see why they’re going to do better. We also know that what happens to most patients with obesity is they just get bigger and bigger and bigger,” she said.
Three months post-surgery, Gregorio has lost 56 pounds, and Hope has lost 40 pounds.
“I am never out of breath. I don’t snore while I sleep,” Gregorio said.
While they are enjoying the benefits of the surgery, the Martinez siblings and Dr. O’Connor were very clear about the immense amount of work it takes to stay healthy post-surgery.
“Surgery is the easy part. I really work hard on making sure the surgery is the kids’ idea, and that they understand what they’re getting into,” O’Connor said. “They have a new body now, a new sensation of fullness and hunger maybe for the first time ever. So they have to learn those cues so that they don’t overeat later when it’s easier to overeat and then regain the weight.”
O’Connor also said she won’t do the surgery unless the patient agrees to take a regiment of vitamins after the surgery that are necessary to help their bodies adjust.
Hope and Gregorio are following the directions, taking vitamins, eating healthy, hydrating, and exercising.
They both say their mental health has vastly improved as well.
“Before, I would always second-guess myself and think like, ‘Man, like I can’t go and make friends.’ Now, I feel like I can,” Hope said.
“I was only the fat, funny kid — nothing else. Now, my mental health is way better. I don’t talk down for myself. I’ll look at the mirror and be like, ‘OK, you look good today!’” Gregorio said.
While they understand that there’s a stigma associated with obesity and even weight loss surgery, they felt it was important to tell their story.
“I don’t really feel weird talking about it because there’s other kids that don’t know about this and that could qualify for it, and that they could get the help that we got,” Hope said.
Hope is thriving in ROTC, and Gregorio is about to try out for his school’s marching band and dance team.
“I think I might make the team!” Gregorio said.
The siblings encourage kids like them to look into the surgery and talk to their doctor to see if it’s right for them.
“You can change your lifestyle too. You just have to put in the effort to do it,” Gregorio said.
“This is one of the best things that you could do for yourself because it’s really changed me as a person, and it’s changed my perspective on a lot. So I would say, ‘Go for it,’” Hope said.
Anyone interested in the surgery can contact the CHRISTUS Bariatric Surgical Clinic website.
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