Surgery for Lucas: A Path to Healing

Hi everyone. My name is Lucas Robinson. If you're reading this, it is most likely you already know me and my wonderful wife, Katelyn. If you don't, let me tell you a little about myself and my lifelong struggles with obesity and my need for bariatric surgery.

My story with obesity started at a very young age, around 5 or 6 years old. Throughout my childhood, I was very active in sports and other recreational activities, but the weight never fell off. As I began life as an adult, I stayed active by working jobs that required moderate physical demands, such as running a printing press and working on the railroad. As I entered my mid-20s, my weight, even with those jobs, started causing co-morbidities and a back injury. These include difficulty standing for more than 5-10 minutes, bending over, and lifting heavy objects. This landed me in a career field of dispatching public safety that is primarily sedentary. I have fallen in love with the career field; however, it has come at a great cost to my physical health. I now have difficulty bathing without assistance, frequent falls, pre-diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, and early signs of heart disease. My weight is also at a point where surgery for several of these conditions has become too high risk and deeply impacts my quality of life and has dramatically decreased my quantity of life.

Having this surgery is not a cure-all, and I am fully aware of that. This surgery is to be used as a physical and mental boost to assist me in losing weight to get to a point where I can not only begin physically healing myself through exercise and diet but also get to a weight that will allow me to have much-needed surgeries to repair damage caused by the above co-morbidities. I have spoken with my doctor in great detail about this, and it is their professional opinion that surgical intervention for weight loss is not only recommended but necessary to avoid early death.

Unfortunately, my health insurance, even with these conditions in mind, still deems the surgery as "cosmetic" and not medically necessary. After some research, I have found a surgical clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, run by Dr. Ismael Cabrera, who has performed thousands of bariatric surgeries and is certified as a surgeon in both the United States and Mexico. As it turns out, several people I know from my hometown have had surgery at this clinic performed by Dr. Cabrera and have nothing but praise for him. If you didn't know, Tijuana is a very popular medical tourism destination.

With your help, you are allowing me to live a long and happy, healthy life. The ability to start a family with my beautiful wife and to be able to do things that we have only dreamed of. I understand if you are unable to donate, and if you could at the minimum share my story with friends and family.

The cost of the surgery due to my current BMI is $6800 USD. (This is normally $25,000 in the US.) This will require a round trip flight for me and Katelyn to San Diego, where we will be shuttled just a mile or so across the border to the hospital. This is quite expensive due to my size and could range anywhere from $2500-$3000. (Depending on when we book, time of year, etc.) This will also include passports for me and Katelyn.

For information on the clinic and Dr. Cabrera, you can visit www.stopobesity.us

Thank you and God Bless.