COLUMBIA --- When an ambulance brought Tillmon Webb home from the hospital after he hurt his knee in March, paramedics warned the then 550-pound man he probably wouldn't be able to get up from his recliner if they put him there, his wife said.
Mr. Webb told them to leave him there anyway. He would sit in that recliner, slowly dying, for the next eight months. Finally, paramedics were called back to his Greenwood home Wednesday, because he was in a lot of pain.
Mr. Webb's body was physically stuck to the power recliner and firefighters had to cut him from the chair to take him to the hospital. He died a few hours later, his body covered with sores and a "very bad odor," according to a police report.
Mr. Webb, 33, didn't ask for help for all those months, because he was ashamed and didn't have health insurance, his wife, Ada, said. He slept and used the bathroom in his chair, and she cleaned it every day. The former preacher would post sermons online from the chair, and it wasn't long before he decided he was ready to go home to the Lord, she said.
"After he sat there in that one spot for a week, he was embarrassed. It was like he already knew what was going to happen," Mrs. Webb said.
Mr. Webb's mother was the one who placed the final call to paramedics. Not only did crews have to cut apart the chair, but they had to cut a hole in the wall of the couple's mobile home about 70 miles west of Columbia to get him out. A police report said he weighed about 800 pounds, but his wife said he was closer to 500 pounds.
The hospital told Mr. Webb's wife he died from a heart attack, she said. The coroner's office isn't investigating the death and referred all questions to Greenwood County deputies.
OBESITY CRISIS
ATLANTA --- The first county-by-county survey of obesity reflects past studies that show the rate of obesity is highest in the Southeast and Appalachia. High rates of obesity and diabetes were reported in more than 80 percent of counties in the Appalachian region that includes Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, according to the new research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The same problem was seen in about 75 percent of counties in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina.
The statistics are estimates for the year 2007 -- based on surveys, census figures and other information.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Great country, eh?
When the ambulance drivers told him he may not be able to move from the chair if they left him there ..Why was no one checking back on him!! The county should be ashamed!
Yep justus4 great country *SHRUGS*
When the ambulance drivers told him he may not be able to move from the chair if they left him there ..Why was no one checking back on him!! The county should be ashamed!
The man had no friends/family???!!!!!
excuse me the wife was there .
True, bit I meant extended family that could have pitched in and helped this man.
Where is the world do you get that much food to pack on 500+ lbs?
Please tell me what in he!! this has to do with The Country..justas??..Am I or you or the Gubment resposible for this mans inability to stop eating?...What was is wife doing theses past 8 monthes??.....
Great state of South Carolina with their confederate flag, horse lover and now this. They should put all of these images on a postcard to promote tourism, kind of like a Ripley's Believe It Or Not.
How sad for everyone involved....
"Great state of South Carolina with their confederate flag, horse lover and now this"..so boogaloo you will take the death of an obese man who refused help and compare it to ..What??? the flag or horse lovers?? are you in way educated...??? (other than the "local school system")
Knowing the man had serious medical problems and no means to pay for medical care, the county should have been involved. Where was the hospital case manager, who should have contacted the county (case managers are RN's who have taken over social worker positions and are doing a potty poor job of it because they lack the appropriate education. Social workers are TRAINED in advocacy; RNs are NOT). If he had medicare, he would have been eligible for some services, including home health and that social worker would have been able to advocate for him. Shame on the county and the hospital for shirking their responsibilities. Make no mistake about it, we will see more of this kind of treatment if the obama/pelosi healthcare plan is passed.
Just listen to bettypoop chastising Boogaloo about his education and then she says "are you in way educated...???". Care to decipher that one? Sounds like you missed quite a few days in the "local school system" when they were teaching English.
If he couldn't get out of the chair he wasn't doing his own grocery shopping, now was he? This man obviously didn't want real help or he would have asked, shamed or not. He gave up and committed suicide by fork.....
There are far too many fat people in the South. How in the world does someone get this big before something is done?
What can be done, emerydan? Just like you can't force an alcoholic to stop drinking, you can't stop someone with serious food issues from overeating if they choose to. You can only help those that truly want to be helped.
sounds like the wife was an enabler. Seems like in these extreme cases of obesity that insurance would pay for gastric bypass surgery.
He didn't have insurance. Wonder how much their grocery bill was, or should I say, our grocery bill?
How is it the county's responsibility? That's just stupid. He was a grown man who could have easily asked for help a long time ago and took someinitiative himself, and its not like he had no family to help him either. He wasn't one of those cases of lone people who have no one. Once again people make excuses for lack of personal responsibility. This man had family, They could have asked for help. Why should strangers be responsible for him if chose to sit there and die, or sit there and keep eating and getting bigger? If he was that big, he probably was on disability and got medicaid or something. But I don't think they cover things like gastric bypass and other electives to help people who do not help themselves. I know many people can not help they are big to start with, but wayyyy before 500+ pounds you know you have to do something because its out of control. Sad, but not unpreventable.
http://calvininjax.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/man-weighing-800-pounds-dies...
I agree, his wife was definitely an enabler. Met him on my space.
What gets me are the fat people who monopolize the motorized scooters at places like Wal-mart. I believe these things were intended for the elderly with arthritis and the truly disabled. It makes me so mad when I see some lard butt tooting around on those things. My sister had just had surgery and has difficulty walking for prolonged periods and needed to use one of things scooters on a recent trip to wal-mart.. she uses a cane for now, but all of the scooters were being used by people who were basically just fat and were young.. like under 40. How about walking around and maybe you'd lose some of that weight?
It so amazing the comments that people make about others....