Teen Undergoes Controversial Surgery, Loses 198 Pounds

April 30, 2007— -- Fellow classmates ridiculed 16-year-old KeAira Willis nonstop. They called her "Wobble," because of the peculiar way she walked down the crowded hallways.

For many students, high school is a rough time filled with awkwardness and discomfort, but for KeAira, who was 5 feet, 1 inch and weighed 368 pounds, going to school became a particularly rough ordeal.

Kids teased her and teachers, she said, looked the other way. And when she struck back, overcome with anger and frustration, KeAira found herself suspended for fighting.

"I get mad, I wanna fight," she said. Only rarely would she let strangers see the humor and sweetness hidden behind a wall of anger and hurt.

As is often the case for children who struggle with obesity, KeAira's whole family is overweight. Her mother, Trina Willis, knew only too well how painful life was for her daughter.

"I can't stop everybody from staring," said Trina Willis. "Our family's big. You've never seen nobody fat? You've never seen a fat family before? They just see the weight."

For KeAira, repeated attempts to diet failed, and finally fed up with the stares and the persecution, she took a controversial and bold step. She decided to have gastric bypass surgery (also known as bariatric surgery), an operation that would turn her stomach into a pouch the size of a walnut.

The procedure is not commonly performed on teens because the long-term results are uncertain.

"I first talked to the surgeons here about the possibility of developing bariatric surgery because I was seeing children literally dying from their co-morbidities from obesity," said Dr. William Klish, the head of the obesity clinic at the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

But when it comes to children, gastric bypass surgery becomes controversial. The controversy stems from not knowing how it will affect growth. Doctors still do not know the effects it will have on growing brains and bodies.