Former Olympian pushes hard to develop student athletes in track and field

Former Olympic bobsledder Sable Otey, who runs a sports development training
program at Briarcrest High School, trains and conditions student athletes for track and
field. From left: Otey, Darrian Joiner, Lyndsey Herron, Jada Okhiria, Regan Casey
and Kynnidi Caffey (background). (Photos by Wiley Henry)

In 2017, Sable Otey pushed very hard to make it to the 2018 XXIII Olympics Winter Games in PyeongChang, Korea. She pushed and pushed, but couldn’t summon enough strength or push fast enough to rocket the bobsled out of the gate during tryouts in Calgary, Canada.

“I crashed several times. At the beginning, I just got out-pushed,” she said. Two U.S. teams made it to Korea. Otey and her pilot failed to qualify. Still, she went on to witness the dazzling display of Olympic glory in Korea.

While the memories are still fresh in Otey’s mind, she has not regretted her Olympic experience. Instead, she has refocused her attention on coaching and training student athletes in track and field.

She has a wealth of experience to offer budding athletes training in sprints, hurdles and jumps, including speed development training, strength and power training (without weights), and post injury training.

Sable Otey demonstrates resistance training with Darrian
Joiner, a 17-year-old senior at Briarcrest High School.

“I want to develop athletes,” said Otey, a conference champion at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., where she received a B.S. in Exercise Science in 2011. She also earned a Master’s Degree in Education in 2012 at National University in San Diego, Calif.

On Saturday, Feb. 16, Otey ran through a series of exercises at Briarcrest Christian School with a half dozen student athletes in the school’s weight room. She runs a sports development-training program there after school.

“If you give me a kid, I promise you’ll see a difference in 30 minutes,” said Otey, confident of her ability to produce quality athletes.

She wouldn’t get an argument out of Jada Okhiria, an 18-year-old senior at Briarcrest. “She helps me a lot. I see a huge difference from over the years since she’s been coaching me,” said Okhiria, a triple jump and long jump specialist.

Okhiria has played competitive tennis too since she was nine years old and has been active in track and field since the eighth-grade. After graduation, she plans to walk on at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.

Okhiria is a jumper, not a runner. Other student athletes like Darrian Joiner and Lyndsey Herron are runners. The Briarcrest seniors work out several days a week after school to improve their athleticism.

Much of Otey’s training includes biomechanics and center of mass to keep student athletes from hurting themselves. “A lot of kids get injured because they are not trained how to run properly,” she said.

Joiner gets the point. “I’m learning how to get mentally stronger and how to condition my muscles for endurance,” the 17-year-old said. “She [Otey] helps me to focus on technique and work on the little things, like form.”

Joiner has trained for the triple jump, the long jump, 4 x 100 meters, 4 x 200 meters, 4 x 400 meters, the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash. She has also trained for the shot put.

“But I can definitely use more help,” she conceded.

Herron’s personal best in the 100-meter race is 13.2 seconds. She also runs the 200 meters, the 4 x 100 meters and the 4 x 200 meters. “I want to see if my time is low enough to qualify for a track scholarship,” she said.

Working with student athletes is a synch for Otey. She works them into shape and literally pushes them to do their very best, much like what she had to do herself. Her teaching method comes from her Olympic training.

“She’s teaching me form, endurance and how to get out of the block,” said Herron, 17, who has run track since fifth-grade. “I’m learning how to run long, not lean back, but forward…run on my tiptoes, not my heels.”

While Otey works hard to equip and empower her student athletes, she continues to work out herself. She’s five months pregnant with her second child and still expends energy while maintaining the physicality that made her an Olympian.

Motherhood is important to Otey as well. So is her 14-year marriage to Rueben Otey and their business, Millionaire Millennial Movement, a financial services firm. Otey is the chief executive officer.

That day in Briarcrest’s weight room, the group of student athletes couldn’t believe that their trainer was physically fit to demonstrate the proper way to lift the weight bar.

One of them exclaimed, “…and she’s pregnant too!”

Otey just smiled. She’s used to pushing the limits.

Friends celebrate Eugene Phillips’ birthday with a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Eugene Phillips and Anita Ward-Richardson stop to take a look at one of several
photos of her hanging in a hallway in Phillips' home that he named in her honor.
(Photos by Wiley Henry)

Home is where Eugene Phillips’ heart is and where he feels most comfortable. His heart is also with the children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital who grapple with catastrophic diseases.

On Sunday evening (Feb. 10), Phillips opened the door of his lavishly decorated home in Germantown to a cadre of special friends who celebrated his birthday over dinner and made a donation to St. Jude.

Phillips, whose birthday was Feb. 12, has raised more than $100,000 for St. Jude over the course of 35 years – thanks to an eclectic mix of friends: doctors, CEOs, entertainers, entrepreneurs, ministers, business owners, social justice advocates, and others.

“It’s a blessing to have friends to donate money to St. Jude in honor of my birthday,” Phillips said.

Willie Bland, wife of the late bluesman Bobby Blue Bland,
relaxes in the room that Eugene Phillips named in honor
of his friend.

Raising funds for St. Jude sparked Phillips’ interest decades ago after longtime community activist Sandy Vogel Lewis escorted him on a tour of the campus. She had served more than 20 years on St. Jude’s board before she died in 2010.

“I was so impressed,” he said. “They [St. Jude] do so much for children and their families.”

Phillips embraced Lewis as a dear friend. She was credited with helping St. Jude’s founder Danny Thomas grow the hospital into a worldwide pediatric treatment and research facility.

“I told Sandy that my birthday would always be celebrated for St. Jude,” he said.

A photo of Lewis hangs in Phillips’ home. In fact, just about every wall in his two-story home is adorned with photos of his friends and St. Jude contributors. The photos are keepsakes, irreplaceable memories, he said.

Some rooms are named in honor of his friends – for example, the late rhythm and blues entertainer Rufus Thomas. His memories are framed in each photo and embody the man that Phillips had happily regarded as his good friend.

“Rufus was so happy. It [a room in his honor] meant so much to him,” said Phillips, recalling those special moments when the entertainer would come over and drift off to sleep on a soft, cushioned recliner.

Another friend and entertainer, the late Bobby Blue Bland, is featured prominently in another room. His eyes seem to glare at the onlooker. His wife, Willie Bland, said her husband appreciated the honor.

“He liked it,” she said. A private duty licensed practical nurse, Bland didn’t hesitate to lavish praise on Phillips. She appreciates their friendship. “Eugene has been a friend of ours for so many years.”

Bobby Blue Bland died in 2013. His voice wails from a recording that Phillips plays whenever he feels a need to relax in the room that he named in honor of his friend. Sitting quietly, he reflects on the good times.

 “When I’m here at home and all over the place, it’s good to have the memories,” said Phillips, noting that the memories will occupy his mind for the rest of his life.

Anita Ward-Richardson and Phillips were neighbors once. She remembers when Phillips first talked about supporting St. Jude. It was around the time when her million dollar selling, chart-topping single, “Ring My Bell,” caught fire in 1979.

She and her husband, Stephen R. Richardson, are frequent guests at Phillips’ birthday celebration each year. Her appreciation for Phillips is evident: “Eugene is such a wonderful person. He’s so kind.”

They came – couples and singles, near and far – to celebrate with Phillips, to fellowship with one another, to support a worthy cause: St. Jude’s children.

Several guests conversed with one another and shared stories. Phillips made them all feel at home. They made him feel special. He was a jovial host.

Zeina Alwfeu and Michael Fahr were present. So were Louisette and Dino Palazzola, Mimi Bell and Sonny McQueen, Doris and Bubba Bridges (comedian Steve Harvey’s mother-and father-in-law).

Other guests included Anita and James Bridges, Janelle and Reginald Eskridge, Gwen Nelson and Roosevelt Boyd, Sarah Schwab, Rick Abraham, Michael Donahue, Gina Roberts, and Dr. Gregory Hanissian.

Rahechelia and Elder Aaron L. Patterson made the trip all the way from Munford, Tenn., about 30 miles outside of Memphis. They have celebrated with Phillips for about four years now.

Giving the host his props, Patterson – who serves as minister of worship at Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ and president of the missions department – said, “His dedication is unparalleled.”

He said the reason for the birthday celebration is to support St. Jude. “And we look forward to it each year.”

New book about leadership lessons includes Memphis State Eight

Dr. Shirley Raines, former U of M president and author of "An Uncommon
Journey," recognizes Bertha Mae Rogers Looney (right of Raines) and Luther
McClellan, two members of the Memphis State Eight, during a book talk Jan. 26
at Novel Memphis. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Nearly 60 years ago, eight black students – known as the Memphis State Eight – integrated the former Memphis State University. Before the name was changed to the University of Memphis in 1994, J. Millard (Jack) Smith, who was president from 1946 to 1960, reportedly said, “No blacks shall be admitted as long as I’m president.”

Dr. Shirley Raines, the affable president of the U of M from 2001 to 2013, had no problem acknowledging the history-making trailblazers who shattered the color barrier in 1959: Luther McClellan, Marvis Kneeland Jones, Ralph Prater, John Simpson, Bertha Mae Rogers Looney, Eleanor Gandy, Rose Blakney-Love and Sammie Burnett Johnson.

She pointed out two of them among the audience – McClellan and Looney – who came to hear her expatiate on her new book during a book talk and book signing Jan. 26 at Novel Memphis in the Laurelwood Shopping Center.

Raines is a capable storyteller, an effervescent spirit, which is quite evident in the stories she’s woven together comprising the book “An Uncommon Journey: Leadership Lessons from a Preschool Teacher Who Became a University President.”

“The stories are told from the experiences that you helped me live,” said Raines, speaker, consultant and author, interacting with the surrounding audience.

Dr. Shirley Raines autographs a copy of her book for Luther McClellan.

The Memphis State Eight gets a nod in the book. She first recognized the significance of their rightful place in history and hosted a former dinner and reception in their honor on campus in 2006. A historical marker was erected in front of the Administration Building in 2012.

Much of the credit goes to Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr., then special assistant to Raines and a longtime luminary over the airwaves at 1070 WDIA. He didn’t want the group to be forgotten and their determination to pursue a college education under dire conditions to be omitted from the annals of history.

“Dr. Raines was really a great president. She was sincere and open to change. And I appreciate her sincerity,” said McClellan, who left Memphis in 1962 during his sophomore year at the university.

“It’s amazing. It’s overwhelming,” added Looney, acknowledging the attention the group has been receiving and the “small contribution” that she said she’d made during that turbulent era in Memphis’ history.

She didn’t want to speak ill will of Smith during his day; however, she did speak favorably of Raines: “Dr. Raines is awesome. It reflects the leadership she gave to the university.”

 “They mean so much to me,” said Raines, recognizing her supporters and others in the audience (including Stansbury) who helped to shape her career as a leader and an academic. She rose from humble beginnings on a sharecropper’s farm in Bells, Tenn., to serving a stint in early childhood education, to serving at the helm of the university as its first female president.

Bells is a quaint city in Crocket County, Tenn., 72.9 miles from her home in Memphis “to be exact,” said Raines, who first eyed the big city of Memphis while growing up in Bells.

“Memphis was always special to me,” she told the audience. “I always wanted to live in Memphis…if the cotton crop was good.”

Born on the farm, Raines’ hardworking parents didn’t quite see the sunny side of an education after high school. Her mother had a 12th-grade education, she said, and her father made it to eighth-grade.

Why write the book?

“I wrote this book to tell my stories, and to inspire leaders, especially aspiring women leaders, who are wondering if they should take their next leadership step,” Raines explained in the book’s preface.

She’s had some invaluable experiences and life lessons on her journey from Bells to Memphis and developed the skillset that would catapult her as a formidable leader tasked with an awesome responsibility. This is the crux of the book.

The manuscript started out at 600 pages, she said, “but my editor said nobody would buy it. So I cut it to 300 pages.” Then she whittled the book down again to about “170-something” pages.

The book starts out with Raines’ formative years and builds from there until she lands the big enchilada at the U of M that naysayers, including her husband, didn’t think she would be selected.

“I was really nervous and really wanted the job,” said Raines, who interviewed with the search committee. “My husband told me that I couldn’t do it. So I had to do it.”

Laughter followed.

She did it her way and set the U of M on a trajectory going forward. She created The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change, for example, and raised millions for the U of M Community Health Building.

“It was a great university before we got there, but we made it better,” Raines said unapologetically, owing her success to the life-lessons she learned over the years and her ability to lead the way.

“I always thought Dr. Raines was a great person. But on yesterday (Jan. 26), her stock went up with me,” said Stansbury, who shared the same sentiments about Raines with his radio listening audience.

Replaced 1956 bronze medal just as golden for Olympian Margaret Matthews-Wilburn

After Margaret Matthews-Wilburn won the bronze medal in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, for the 4x100-meter relay, she was swept up in euphoria.

That glorious moment in Melbourne would turn to sadness decades later when Matthews-Wilburn discovered her bronze medal missing after speaking to students and showing them her prized medal during a school assembly.

“I didn’t know for several weeks that it was missing,” she said.

Front row (l to r): Dr. Rochelle Stevens, Margaret
Matthews-Wilburn and the Rev. Beatrice Holloway.
Back row: Donavan Ellison and Martin A. Truitt.
(Courtesy photos)

The bronze medal had vanished. But Matthews-Wilburn’s stupendous achievement and coveted bronze medal would not be lost to the ages, thanks to her goddaughter, Dr. Rochelle Stevens, a two-time Olympic gold and silver medalist.

“I was devastated to hear what had happened. I was like, ‘You never told me,’” said Stevens, who learned that Matthews-Wilburn’s bronze medal was missing when the two Olympians were interviewed for a television show.

On Dec. 23, Stevens surprised the legendary track star with a replacement bronze medal that arrived in time for a surprised medal ceremony at Word of Life Healing Ministry, where the Rev. Beatrice Holloway is senior pastor.

Holloway is Stevens’ mother and her former Olympic coach.

“Thirty years is a long time to be without my medal. It is so precious to me now,” said Matthews-Wilburn, who sprinted to a third-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay with teammates Mae Faggs, Wilma Rudolph and Isabelle Daniels.

Stevens knew how important the bronze medal had been to Matthews-Wilburn, who was 21 when that special moment in Melbourne was indelibly etched in the history books.

That’s why Stevens contacted Cindy Stinger of the United States Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland. While the glory days in track and field are gone, the bronze medal had been a source of pride for Matthews-Wilburn, a member of the famed Tigerbelle Sports Club at Tennessee State University.

“She’d never requested another medal or reported it missing,” said Stevens, compelled to do something without tipping off Matthews-Wilburn. “She said, ‘If I could get a duplicate…it doesn’t have to be the real thing, I would be happy.’”

Presenting the bronze medal to Margaret
Matthews-Wilburn.

Stevens requested a replacement medal in January. “They told us that it would take six to 12 weeks,” she said.

After an 11-month investigation, IOC voted to replace the bronze medal. The United Parcel Services delivered the replacement medal in December.

“We got it back and I thank God for Rochelle. It took a lot of effort,” said Matthews-Wilburn, choosing to rave about Stevens’ exploits on and off the field rather than talk about her on.

“Rochelle is a special person,” she said.

While it seems Matthews-Wilburn is downplaying her achievements, Rudolph spoke highly of her teammate’s athletic prowess on the field in a 1988 Sports Illustrated story that Ralph Wiley wrote entitled “Born to be a Champion.”

Wiley captured the heart and soul of the formidable Wilburns, a family of athletes: Barry Wilburn, cornerback for the Washington Redskins’ 1988 Super Bowl team; Kelvin Wilburn, who played cornerback for one year at TSU; their father, Jesse Wilburn, a star running back for TSU; and, of course, Matthews-Wilburn, a sprinter and the first American woman to leap a record 20 feet in the broad jump in 1957.   

Rudolph spoke highly about Matthews-Wilburn’s athleticism in Wiley’s story: “She could beat anybody on a given day, and she let you know the day might be today.”

A native of Griffin, Ga., Matthews-Wilburn was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. She is a retired educator in Memphis.

After returning home from the ceremony, Matthews-Wilburn found herself at peace. “I slept with it [bronze medal] on my pillow,” she said.

Public forum fleshes out ideas to end opioid crisis in Shelby County

Thurston S. Smith speaks candidly about opioid addiction in Shelby County on Nov. 7
at Bartlett United Methodist Church. Joining him for a Q&A are (l to r) Dr. Alisa Haushalter,
director of the Shelby County Health Department; David Sweat, chief epidemiologist for
the health department; and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Griffith. (Photo by Elatris Estell)

“America has had a fixation on dope for a long time,” said Thurston S. Smith, laying out the facts to a group of community stakeholders attending a forum on opioid addiction Nov. 7 at Bartlett United Methodist Church.

A behavioral health consultant and trainer, and member of the Shelby County Opioid Response Task Force, Smith shed light on the origin of drug abuse and its societal impact in America, past and present.

The task force is comprised of experts and officials in Memphis and Shelby County charged with developing a plan to bring an end to the local opioid crisis. The plan is supported by the city, county, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), and other agencies.

Opioid addiction has become a public health nuisance and destroys too many lives – literally. It is spiraling out of control with deadly consequences that the Shelby County Health Department is trying to bring to an end.

Recent figures compiled by the health department bear this out: opioid related emergency department visits in 2017: 901; opioid related deaths from 2013-2017: 650; opioid prescriptions for pain in 2016: 674,033.

Drug abuse is costing America well over $500 billion annually “in criminal justice costs, lost work productivity, and health care,” Smith pointed out before joining other experts on a panel to take questions from the audience.

While the focus of the forum was on bridging the gap between opioid addiction and the faith-based community, Smith stated forthrightly: “There is no difference to people who are addicted to opioids, crack (cocaine), meth (methamphetamine) and marijuana.”

Those who succumb to either drug, whether illicit or prescribed, often struggle at the onset of the addiction with eventual long-term consequences – even death.

David Sweat noted that the average age of death in Shelby County from opioids is 40. “It’s hitting us on every level, every demographics, and all over Shelby County,” the chief epidemiologist for the health department said.

Opioid addiction and other drug abuses can also lead to jail time, said Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Griffith. “We’re trying to encourage law enforcement not to arrest everyone,” he said.

Except street dealers; they will be arrested, said Griffith, adding that it is much more costly to incarcerate someone than to treat their addiction.

“There is no one way to treat addiction,” said Dr. Alisa Haushalter, director of the health department and associate professor of Advance Practice and Doctoral Studies at UTHSC.

There is, however, a major gap in detox beds, said Dr. Haushalter, alluding to the difficulty of securing bed space for those who are drug-addicted. The faith-based community in this regard is called upon to do its part to help thwart the opioid crisis.

Three stakeholders from the faith-based community comprised the second half of the panel discussion: Melvin Lewis, founder, The GAAL House, a transitional center for men recovering from substance abuse; the Rev. Jesse Johnson, program director of No Whispers Initiative at Christ United Methodist Church, touting a ministry that stands up for voiceless individuals currently struggling with mental illness and addictions; and the Rev. Pat Kendall, a pastor at Hope Church, who launched Hope’s recovery ministry 15 years ago and now comprising over 30 recovery and support groups.

Lewis understands the need for intervention. He battled an addiction for 25 years before “God compelled me to help other men who are struggling with addiction,” said Lewis, now in his eighth year in recovery.

The Shelby County Health Department is ground zero for the Opioid Response Task Force in terms of strategy and implementation. The county is chipping in $2.4 million the first year to implement the opioid response strategy map.

The strategy includes launching a public awareness campaign, increasing affordability of evidence-based treatment options, creating an integrated data collection system, increasing access to and availability of Naloxone, and diverting individuals from criminal court into treatment and recovery.

“The problem is chemical dependency,” said Smith, adding, “We need to ensure that members of every community are given a seat at the table.”

Rhonda Myers tells a riveting story about her struggle with cancer

After listening to a riveting testimony on how cancer has ravaged Rhonda Myers'
body, Bishop Edward H. Stephens Jr., senior pastor of Golden Gate Cathedral, and prayer
warriors prayed for her healing and peace of mind. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

Five minutes into Rhonda Myers’ 20-minute testimony, tears started flowing in the room. She could barely get through the story without dabbing at the tears in her own eyes.

Each riveting detail gave the more than 120 women and a couple of men attending the annual Golden Gate Cathedral’s Breast Cancer Survivors’ Brunch on Oct. 20 all the reason to weep. And many of them did.

The majority of the women and one man in attendance are breast cancer survivors. They apparently felt Myers’ pain, her struggle, and her will to survive as she recounted how cancer has taken its toll on her body.

“I was scared at first. My words aren’t always correct. That’s why I had to write everything down on paper,” said Myers, 51, reluctant at first to take on the role of keynote speaker. 

“I wanted women to see how she has persevered. Women need to know how she has endured what she’s gone through,” said Anita Holloway, Golden Gate’s health ministry coordinator.

Holloway had asked Myers to let the Lord use her while telling her story.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to the nonprofit Breastcancer.org, an estimated 266,120 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women this year in the U.S., along with 63,960 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer.

Men are at risk too. About 2,550 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in men this year.

For more than 10 years, Holloway has coordinated the church’s Breast Cancer Survivors’ Brunch “to uplift and support women, to inspire each other with their stories, including those who have not gone through with breast cancer.”

“She (Myers) has a story to tell, and she has not given up,” said Holloway, moved to tears herself. After Myers finished speaking, she removed her wig to show other survivors that she is not defeated. Holloway sent up a prayer afterward.

Myers had participated in the survivors’ brunch the last two years, but not as a speaker. “This is the first time at the brunch where people wanted to hug me and kiss me,” she said. “I noticed that a lot of people were crying.”

Myers was first diagnosed with left breast cancer in October of 2012, five months after moving to Memphis from her native New Orleans to take a job as a certified nursing assistant at Spring Gate Rehabilitation Center.

Holloway is the supervisor on the night shift. Myers worked the three to 11 shift, but could no longer keep the job because of her failing health. “I had to quit after having the surgery,” she said

Myers was 45 years old then, the mother of three sons. One of them is deceased. After surgery, chemotherapy and radiation followed. During this time, her mother was sick back in New Orleans. She brought her to Memphis. She died two years ago.

 In July of 2013, doctors performed a mastectomy on Myers’ left breast. They discovered lesions under her left armpit. They also found a lump on her right breast. “I didn’t want them to do both breasts,” said Myers, eventually consenting to a lumpectomy.

At this point in Myers’ story, the roomful of breast cancer survivors was listening attentively to the speaker’s poignant message, as if some other malady would be revealed.

Her story continued to unfold; she wasn’t done yet. While undergoing treatment for breast cancer, “my back started hurting,” said Myers, who thought the pain had come as a result of the cancer treatment.

The intense pain drove Myers to Campbell Clinic, where doctors discovered that cancer had invaded her bones. “I had it in my lumbar area, clavicle, and a part of my lungs,” she said.

Not long after receiving the doctors’ dour bone cancer report, Myers started experiencing excruciating headaches. Again, she sought out a doctor. “I went to Germantown Hospital and had an ultrasound done,” she said.

The doctors found four times the amount of lesions in Myers’ brain. In a relative short number of years, cancer laid waste to most her body. It had attacked both of her breasts, her bones, and twice her brain. She’s being treated now at The West Cancer Clinic.

Myers said her words don’t always connect like she wants them to. It didn’t matter to the survivors. They understood her pain – and it gave them a reason to fight just as hard to survive.

Fields chooses gastric sleeve surgery to lose the unwanted pounds

LEFT: Sharon Fields at a prayer breakfast in 2017. RIGHT: With a new look and
a new attitude, Sharon Fields wears jeans for the first time in 10 years.

The most that Sharon Fields has weighed was 405 pounds. The weight was a heavy burden that she could no longer carry around on her five-foot frame. So she decided to do something about it.

“I’d made up my mind that it was time for a change. I have grandchildren and I want to be around for them,” said Fields, a community activist and administrative assistant for Agape Child & Family Services.

Fields’ resolve was strengthened when she learned that she could shed the unwanted pounds by undergoing gastric sleeve surgery. But first she had to prove that she could lose weight consistently before a bariatric surgery team in Tijuana, Mexico, would consider her for the weight-loss procedure.

Because Fields had gained an inordinate amount of weight, the doctors explained to her that a liver-shrinking plan was necessary to mitigate the risk of complications after the minimally invasive surgery.

“For 30 days, I could only eat a 4-oz portion of fish, chicken or turkey each day,” she said. “I also had to replace two meals a day with two protein shakes.”

The pre-op was successful. Fields loss the required weight to shrink her liver and was now prepared to head to Tijuana, a cultural mecca bordering San Diego, Calif. She left Memphis on a Tuesday (Sept. 26, 2017), had gastric sleeve surgery performed that Wednesday, and made it home the following Saturday.

Gastric sleeve surgery is a tool to reduce the size of the stomach to help chronically obese patients lose weight. The patient is placed under general anesthesia while a certified bariatric professional makes a small laparoscopic incision into the stomach to remove up to 85 percent of it.

This type of surgery can take less than an hour. Recovery generally takes about 15 days. Results, though not guaranteed, can vary for each patient. Rapid weight loss occurs when patients maintain a regimented diet plan.

 “I started seeing results immediately. My face and neck changed the same day,” said Fields, dropping 15 pounds the first week after the surgery. Before the month was out, she’d loss 45 pounds.

The weight was falling off rather quickly. “After 90 days, I went through a stall,” she noticed. “Then I started losing inches. Then I started losing more pounds. I loss 115 pounds in 10 months.”

Fields weighed in at 288 pounds less than two weeks ago. “I want to be half the size I was,” she said. “I want to be down to 200 pounds. I just want to make sure I’m healthy, though.”

Lugging so much weight around caused Fields’ health to wane. Her knees ached and she tired easily. If she had to walk a short distance, her breathing would become sporadic. She would have trouble catching her breath. She also had all the symptoms of sleep apnea.

“I wasn’t diagnosed with sleep apnea,” she said, “but I couldn’t sleep nonetheless.”

When looking back over the years, Fields recalls picking up weight when she was in her 30s. She said her weight gain was caused by emotional damage that bedeviled her at the onset of adulthood.

“I was in the 350-pound range for the last 10 years,” she said. “And I was close to 400 pounds about six years ago.”

The diet fads didn’t work, she said. She’d tried SlimFast, juicing, and other over-the-counter weight loss products. Still, the weight would come back. “I would lose 10 pounds and gain 15. I wasn’t consistent.”

Fields felt self-conscious, unattractive. Plus-size clothes were available, she said, but too expensive. However, depending on the setting and those close to her, she didn’t worry so much about the weight.

“My church family…my job…they just accepted me,” said Fields, assistant pastor of evangelism at the Pursuit of God Transformation Center. Her immediate family has been supportive too – her three adult sons, two grandsons, and granddaughter.

After the surgery, Fields’ new image started coming into focus. Now this active, single mother can see the results unfolding before her eyes – and she likes what she sees.

“I still have to eat right,” she said. “Gastric sleeve surgery helps you with portion control. If you don’t follow the plan, you can gain the weight back.”

Fields is determined not go down that road again.