April and Andrew Improved Their Health, and Their Marriage, With Weight Loss Surgery
2/9/2026
“It Really Does Impact Everything”
Together, April and Andrew made the most important decision of their lives when they got married seven years ago. They made a second transformative choice, also together when they had weight loss surgeries within about a year of one another.
At 477 and 428 pounds, respectively, April and Andrew wanted a more active, energetic life as a couple who are still only in their 30s. They had both been morbidly obese for their entire adult lives, and the problem worsened during COVID-19. After April’s niece was born in March of 2022, she scheduled a consultation with bariatric surgeon Stephen Burpee, M.D., and the team at Northwest Bariatric and Foregut Surgery.
“I didn’t want to be the aunt who just sat and watched as my niece grew up,” April explains.
This surgery was her second, after a lap band procedure in 2008 that went badly and made her extremely ill. Dr. Burpee removed the band, performed a gastric bypass, and April went on to lose almost 200 pounds (so far).
Watching her succeed inspired Andrew to have his own surgery. After considering weight loss drugs, he thought gastric bypass was a better route.
“I knew Dr. Burpee had been doing this for decades, and that it was a procedure that had been done for decades,” he says. “I felt confident. And the day after my surgery, my mental state did a 180. I was full of hope, and still am. Being that overweight, and then not, really does impact everything, I was choosing whether or not I wanted to live anymore – and, by choosing the surgery, I was choosing to be alive.”
The only regret we have is that we didn’t do it sooner,” April says. “Now, deciding to go for a walk is no longer the worst thing in the world. We both went down a shoe size.”
Andrew agrees. “Remember when I cried at the Reebok store?” he asks. She remembers.
The couple agrees that they got their lives back – and much more.
“Our lives are totally different,” April says “We do a lot more than watch TV and decide what’s for dinner. We play kickball, do Zumba and go to baseball games – where we’re able to sit in seats behind home plate, which we couldn’t do before because of our size. I went skiing for the first time, and we’re planning on skydiving.”
April and Andrew often look at each other and say, ‘non-scale victory!’ when another fun option becomes available to them, including not having to think about weight restrictions on airplanes at theme parks, or their niece’s trampoline.
Another dramatic difference they’ve both noticed is how much easier and safer everyday life has become – driving their cars, shopping for clothes and other things people who aren’t living with obesity usually take for granted. It also improved their work lives. Both are in education, and their substantial weight loss has helped give them the energy and joy to advance in their field.
“Unfortunately, the world doesn’t take extremely heavy people very seriously because they think it was a choice,” April says. “They think we chose to be heavy. But obesity is a medical condition. Binge eating is an eating disorder. It requires medical treatment. Surgery was simply the medical treatment route that we chose after years of trying everything else and realizing that we wouldn't survive past our 40s without it. “Now, we’ve both gained confidence – and it’s amazing to watch each other succeed.”
Congratulations to April and Andrew on all they’re continuing to accomplish!
To learn more about surgical weight loss at Northwest Healthcare, or to request an appointment, please visit https://www.healthiertucson.com/bariatric-weight-loss.
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