A year ago, doctors gave Jeff Cassick of Buffalo, U.S.A. six months to a year to live. He weighed 220 Kilograms and feared that it would be his last Christmas.

Then things went from bad to worse. As he became immobile and unable to rise from his bed, Cassick's weight shot up to 330 Kilograms. So in April, he checked into the Miller Health Care Center in Ohio, U.S.A., A special home, offering obese patients special services that they can't get at home.

This Christmas Cassick, 38, was down to 270 Kilograms thanks to the clinic.

"I have to lose another 90 Kilograms before they can do the surgery to take off the excess skin and fat," he said.

He lost 60 Kilograms in eight months. At that rate of weight loss he may only be a year away from his goal of 180 Kilograms.

"I'm walking and everything," he said. "When I came in here (The Clinic), I couldn't sit, I couldn't stand or anything. And now it's hard to keep me down!"

"So I've come a long way. And I have a long ways to go, but I just take it one day at a time."

Cassick's spirits were lifted recently when the patients got a visit from fitness guru Richard Simmons, who had been corresponding with Cassick for the past nine years.

Then, a few days before Christmas, Cassick got a visit from his wife, Christine, and family. She had used all her unpaid leave days to travel back and forth, depleting her paycheck, just to be there to support her husband.

Most of Cassick's medical bills are paid for by Medicare. All but $30 of his sickness benefit goes to the nursing home.

Cassick is disappointed he let himself get this obese. He said that it all started from the routines he picked up when he was a little boy, he followed in his fathers' footsteps. He did as he saw his father do, and as a result he has ended up weighing over 300 Kilograms and is in serious risk of dying because of his severe obesity. This is a lesson that must be learnt and adopted by parents; be a role model and support your child through everything. Visit the GKA Forum to post and read comments on all sorts of interesting child health related topics. Click here to check them out.