Sadly, as I have mentioned in the past, the one on the far left, Paul Hammond, is no longer with us. It was a dirty trick for him to play on us, as (in all seriousness) I had planned on him delivering my eulogy in the far future, as eloquent as he was. He would have made me sound far better than I am. Now, I'm stuck.
At one time, both Paul and Glen--then gentleman on the right--were over four hundred pounds. As a matter of fact, the night this photo was taken, that subject was brought up.
I contacted Glen, letting him know of Paul's passing, and it shook him. He realized that but for the grace of God, it could have been him. Thus, he was determined to do something about it. Glen therefore started on a regimen combined with Weight Watchers and the YMCA. Over the past two years, he's seen his weight drop down to two hundred, and he looks marvelous. Glen wanted to be able to see his grandchildren grow up, and he's going to be able to achieve that.
You know, every time tragedy strikes our lives, we're told something good will come out of this. That God has a plan, and we need to be patient. We mutter, "Yeah, yeah," and ignore those who tell us this. I can tell you in all honesty Glen's life was saved. He will tell you that.
I am proud of Glen for his tenacity.
More importantly, I know Paul would be.
