S13.E06: Deshaun's Journey

[CrazyInAlabama]

New 2/5/2025

“An overprotective man refuses to leave his mother's apartment, but at over 700 pounds the time may have come for him to venture outside and seek help.”

 

DeShaun Davis, Age 28, From Omaha, NE. Lives with his mother. Sibling Diamond, is a caretaker for him. Diamond seems very sensible talking about him. His legs look painful, and maybe infected.

Those two huge breakfast plates look good, unfortunately it's enough to feed an entire family for a full day. Pancakes, syrup, biscuits, eggs, and more.

Bullied and fought with stepdad as a kid. Mother Willa was on drugs. Sent to a juvenile facility.

He has to be over 600 lbs, and his mother isn't much smaller.

Another one who has sister do the shopping, and tells her what to get by phone call. He hasn't left the house in three years according to his mother.

Edited Yest. at 01:21 AM by CrazyInAlabama

[ams1001]

Overprotective? Of what? The only thing I saw him protecting was his delicate little feetsies.

Can't go get weighed because he doesn't have shoes but maybe they'll come next week?

[BAForever]

Checked live chat, not even going to start this one. He has a decent place to live and family. What a wasted life. Sad.

[Nerfect Drifty]

What a pathetic family and a pathetic waste of time.  You could tell from the opening preview clip that this would go nowhere.  Deshaun had no desire to change so he wasn't going to.  It's a fundamental fact of dealing with addiction that you cannot force someone to change against his or her will.  The addict has to want to change.

Dr. Now hit the nail on the head at the ending when he hypothesized that, not only does Deshaun not want to get better, but his family doesn't want him to get better either because they are paid caregivers.  Deshaun is a belligerent adult baby who is going to die in his plastic wrapped bed.

[libgirl2]

49 minutes ago, Nerfect Drifty said:

What a pathetic family and a pathetic waste of time.  You could tell from the opening preview clip that this would go nowhere.  Deshaun had no desire to change so he wasn't going to.  It's a fundamental fact of dealing with addiction that you cannot force someone to change against his or her will.  The addict has to want to change.

Dr. Now hit the nail on the head at the ending when he hypothesized that, not only does Deshaun not want to get better, but his family doesn't want him to get better either because they are paid caregivers.  Deshaun is a belligerent adult baby who is going to die in his plastic wrapped bed.

He is their meal ticket, but if he passes, then what? 

[Nerfect Drifty]

44 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

He is their meal ticket, but if he passes, then what? 

He's only 27.  There have been people on this show who survive into their 50s.  They could be squeezing another 20 years out of this.  If he shapes up, they've got 2 to 4 years.

[libgirl2]

7 minutes ago, Nerfect Drifty said:

He's only 27.  There have been people on this show who survive into their 50s.  They could be squeezing another 20 years out of this.  If he shapes up, they've got 2 to 4 years.

Good point but I don't for see 20 years tbh. 

[Snarkastikate]

Dr Now went there & I'm glad he did. His taxpayer funded family & nurse caregivers are literally feeding him to death. Here I was sucked into thinking the sisters & cousins (maybe mom too?) were caring for him out of love. Stupid me. Young mobile man like that should get one paid caregiver for a few hours a day to bathe & get meals ready for the day, then it's up to him. And his food allowance should not be higher because he's super morbidly obese. The system is actually enabling & killing him. 

[Mollywolly555]

Depressed,  addicted, enabled, spolied.

Boring.

I am a feminist, but I wonder if there was a strong upstanding, man who cd inspire or help him get out into the community? 

Probably not,  cuz DeShaun's in deep with mental/emo depression.

And he has no interests outside of gaming. That is a death sentence,  alongside the food. 

What's he think he's going to do in Missouri wth his uncle?

[TwirlyGirly]

Because I watch the program on MAX, each episode isn't available until the day after it's broadcast (Thursday) so I can't participate in the live chats anymore ☹️.

I knew in the first 5 minutes DeShaun wasn't going to be successful. When he told Dr. Nowzaradan that he'd tried diets and exercise before and they didn't work — that he'd lose 5-10 lbs then gain it right back — that sealed the deal for me.

At his weight, he'd lose 5-10 lbs in just a few days sticking to practically any diet, so for what he said to be true he must have given up any plan he tried in about a week.

No, DeShaun, at your weight you're going to have to stick to a diet plan for 1 ½ - 2 years to get within the healthy weight range for your height. Dr. Nowzaradan's diet doesn't fail, but many of his patients fail his diet.

@Mollywolly555:

Quote

And he has no interests outside of gaming. That is a death sentence,  alongside the food.

Up until about 5 years ago, my gaming consisted primarily of building houses for The Sims games.

Then I picked up my 28-year-old daughter's copy of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and within days I was hooked.

Because I'd never played that type of game before I needed a lot of help, and in getting that help I was introduced to the gaming community on YouTube.

What I learned is there are many ways for gamers to generate income while pursuing their passion. It's not easy, but those who are creative, find their niche, and work hard to create quality content can do very well.

Does DeShaun have what it takes to do something like that? From what we saw in the video, no. But if he were to lose that excess weight, who knows how much better his outlook on life might be, and what he'd be able to accomplish then?

My point is this: instead of considering gaming a waste of time or "a death sentence," I wish people knew about the different ways gamers generate income from playing. I wish parents who have children interested in gaming would encourage their children to learn about all of skills represented in video game creation, such as graphic design, music, programming, story editing, sound effects, animation, translating, voice acting, etc. If your child loves gaming, why not help them to direct their talents towards a career that would allow them to participate in the creation of video games?

[Mollywolly555]

Hour do gamers generate income?