Juan Pedro Franco was won the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Man in 2017.
Juan Pedro Franco went from facing one enemy to another. In 2017, this Mexican won the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Man, and although he has considerably lost weight since then, he has had to battle the new coronavirus.
Franco, who is 36, once weighed 595 kg. And although he now weighs 208kg, the problems that came with obesity – diabetes, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – worked against him in his fight against COVID-19, on which he put his test results a month ago.
“It’s difficult because it’s a very aggressive disease. I had headaches, body aches, I lost my breath, I had fever. I was at very high risk,” Franco told AFP from his home in the central state of Aguascalientes in Mexico.
Mexico ranks first in the world in childhood obesity and second in adults, which is an obstacle in the fight against COVID-19″.
One of every four mortal victims (74,400 to date) was overweight, just as the fifth part of the more than 700,000 confirmed cases.
Moreover, many of those who contracted the disease had at least one comorbidity, such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, usually linked to poor nutrition and lack of physical activity.
Franco considers that the complex treatment he underwent to lose weight – which included three surgeries – helped him defeat coronavirus for his diabetes and hypertension are currently under control.
Before those bariatric surgeries, Franco spent most of his time lying in his bed because the weight prevented him from moving.
“They were really useful to control my weight, diabetes, and hypertension; it was what helped me not to get worse,” he said. “He (Castañeda) has me now without drugs for glucose and hypertension. That really helped me endure the disease,” he asserted.
However, COVID-19 killed her 66-year-old mother, who was in charge of his diet, so Franco and one of his brothers are now taking care of it.
“Unfortunately, she is no longer with us and now we have to get used to it as we also have to start doing it (diet) ourselves,” he said.