Sudy Reynolds, a retired federal civil service human resource management analyst, suffered from high blood pressure (even with medication), acid reflux (4 rolls of antacids per day), and sleep apnea. Sudy weighed 302 pounds in October, 2001 and decided if she wanted to live to see her young nieces and great nephews graduate from high school, she had to lose weight. She was 5’2”, 55 years old, and weighed 302 pounds when her weight loss journey began. Before she retired, she became acquainted with two people who were patients of Dr. Clarey and Dr. Bruce. Her co-workers had lost weight with the Roux-en-Y surgery. After paying so many weight loss organizations through the years, and never successfully losing, and after realizing she was limiting her years of life by being morbidly overweight, she went to the informational meeting that is given by Dr. Clarey and Dr. Bruce. After that meeting, she knew she had to research further and that this surgery might be a possibility for her. After she passed the pre-op physical, she decided to have this life saving surgery on 24 October 2001. By 25 April 2002, 6 months after surgery, she had lost 97 lbs. By 24 October 2002, she had lost 150 lbs. As of August 2003 she has lost 164 lbs and weighs 138 lbs" and wears a size 10 or 12 petite.

She is completely off medication for high blood pressure, does not utilize the sleep apnea equipment, and her hiatal hernia was cleared up during surgery. She believes her success is also attributed to walking 3 miles per day, sometimes longer than that. She feels great, thanks to her competent surgeons and their concerned staff. Sudy attends two support groups that meet each month, support that is needed for those on this journey.

Sudy walked in, and finished, the 13 mile Wright-Patterson AFB "Run - Walk - Crawl 1/2 Marathon" on June 18, 2005.

Sudy says. "people could run it, walk it, or if you need to, crawl to the finish line. I was walking upright when I finished. My goal was to just finish."