As a teenager, Shana Lipps was a competitive swimmer and didn’t have a care in the world about her weight. “You eat as many calories as you want and have no trouble,” she said.
As an adult, though, her weight has always been a struggle. After having children, she entered what she calls a cycle of heaviness. She tried many diets, pills and exercise programs over the years, sometimes with success, but the weight always came back.
In recent years, she has suffered from high blood pressure and other health issues and decided to look into weight loss surgery with Kevin Helling, MD, a general and bariatric surgeon and the medical director of bariatric surgery at Banner Wyoming Medical Center. Shana is a case manager at Banner Wyoming Medical Center and had seen other patients have success after bariatric surgery and decided it was time for her to make a big change. She made an appointment with Dr. Helling and after months of prep work, had her surgery in December 2022.
“Obesity is a complex medical condition and it carries a lot of long-term health consequences,” said Dr. Helling. “We also understand it’s not simply a lack of will power or some mental deficiency that doesn’t allow people to lose their weight.”
Nearly two years after her surgery, Shana says she feels better than ever and is proud to tell her story.
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