http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americ....ap/index.html
700-pound man dreams of walking down the aisle
Story Highlights
* Manuel Uribe once weighed 1,235 pounds but has lost about 550
* He says his weight ballooned after too much junk food in the United
States
* Botched liposuction left him with giant tumors in his legs
* He plans to launch a foundation to educate people about obesity
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) -- Manuel Uribe, who once weighed a half-ton but has
slimmed down to about 700 pounds, celebrates his 43rd birthday Wednesday
with a simple wish for the coming year: to be able to stand on his own two
feet to get married.
At his home in northern Mexico, where he can still do little more than sit
up on a bed, Uribe said that more than two years of steady dieting have
helped him drop about 550 pounds from his Guinness record weight of 1,235
pounds.
He hopes Guinness representatives will confirm in July that he holds a
second title: the world's greatest loser of weight.
But Uribe is still unable to walk with his fiancée, Claudia Solis, down the
aisle.
"It frustrates me a little, because it is not easy to get out," said Uribe,
who has not been able to leave bed for the past six years.
His most recent attempt to escape the house -- to attend Solis' 38th
birthday party in March -- fell through when a flatbed tow truck brought to
transport his reinforced bed got caught beneath an underpass.
But Uribe vowed not to be deterred: "We are in love, and this year my
birthday wish is to be able to stand when we get married," he said.
Uribe said he met Solis, a hairdresser, four years ago. They have been
together for the last two.
"We are a couple," Uribe said. "We have sex, and in the eyes of God we are
already married."
Proudly showing off her sparkling engagement ring, Solis said that life
with a heavyweight is not always easy.
"I bathe him every day, and we get along very well," she said. "At times,
yes, people say things ... that it's a fake relationship, but what we have
is real."
Solis said her family initially opposed the match with Uribe because her
first husband, who was also obese, died of respiratory failure.
"They were worried about me being involved with another fat man, because
they thought another husband would die on me," she said.
Uribe, a former auto parts dealer, said his birthday party Wednesday will
be a low-key dinner with the family.
"We were going to go out, but the last time out scared me so much," he
said. "When we crashed into the lighting conduits on the underpass, I
thought we were going to get an electric shock."
Uribe said his weight problem spiraled out of control after he moved to the
United States for a few years in 1988 and indulged in a nonstop diet of
junk food and soft drinks.
A botched liposuction that damaged his lymph nodes left him with giant
tumors on both legs weighing a total of 220 pounds. The tumors are the main
reason he is unable to walk.
"It is all because of the junk food," he said.
About two years ago, a team of doctors stepped in to help Uribe change his
eating habits and tackle his extreme obesity.
Today he says he eats small portions of food five times a day, including
chicken, ham, egg-white omelets, fruit and vegetables. Sitting in bed,
Uribe exercises his arms with pull-ups and by pedaling with his hands.
Hoping his struggle will inspire others, he plans to launch the Manuel
Uribe Foundation this year to educate people about nutrition and to combat
obesity, a growing problem in Mexico.
Solis is focused more on the present.
CNN: 700-pound man dreams of walking down the aisle 
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