Surgeon joins Weight Loss Center
BY JEFF MCKINNEY
When his third child had life-threatening pelvic cancer 7½ years ago, the devastating event taught Dr. John Mobley the right way to treat people.
A general surgeon at the time, Mobley, 43, spent most of his time caring for his then-11-week-old son and dealing with many doctors that showed him and his family little compassion.
The doctor also found himself overeating - everything from potato chips to doughnuts at all times during the day - to hide his pain. That behavior caused Mobley's weight to swell from 200 pounds to 290 pounds during a seven-month period. And even after losing 60 pounds at one point, Mobley started overeating again when his son's cancer recurred.
"All that mattered was his survival, and to stay sane, I resorted to food again," Mobley says.
But a breakthrough came four or five years ago, when Mobley and his wife, Tammy, learned that their son's cancer could be cured.
Mobley decided to attack his weight problem after Tammy underwent laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery in 2004 and lost 100 pounds.
His wife's success prompted Mobley to have the surgery done in February 2006. It allowed him to drop about 80 pounds and decrease his waist size to from 44 inches to 32.
"The surgery showed me that it was possible to lose the weight and keep it off," Mobley says.
His success led him in February to join the staff of the Cincinnati Weight Loss Center in West Chester, where he specializes in lap-band surgery. He gave up a general-surgery practice in Greenville, Ohio, that he had had for about 12 years to move to Cincinnati.
Mobley says his biggest challenge now is not keeping the pounds off but finding people to help.
Mobley says he has performed about 75 lap-band surgeries, a procedure that costs about $16,000.
"I truly do it because I want to help change people's lives," he says.
When he's not working, Mobley likes watching his now-cancer-free 8-year-old son do things like play baseball, soccer or practice karate.
He, his wife and their five children live in Loveland.
"Now on the other side of our cancer tragedy, we appreciate every day of every moment together," Mobley says.
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