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 February 6 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:

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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?

[Emkat]

Guys I feel bad.  Deshaun is seriously depressed.  When he was sitting in bed at the end literally crying and eating a sub I felt a stab to my heart.  He honestly needs serious mental health help.

[SDVegas]

1 hour ago, Emkat said:

Guys I feel bad.  Deshaun is seriously depressed.  When he was sitting in bed at the end literally crying and eating a sub I felt a stab to my heart.  He honestly needs serious mental health help.

I did wonder if Dr Paradise ever prescribed meds for depression, etc. It certainly couldn’t hurt, and DeShaun seemed like a prime candidate (no I don’t play a doctor on tv, so, 🤷‍♀️).

[ams1001]

5 hours ago, SDVegas said:

I did wonder if Dr Paradise ever prescribed meds for depression, etc. It certainly couldn’t hurt, and DeShaun seemed like a prime candidate (no I don’t play a doctor on tv, so, 🤷‍♀️).

I wonder how you figure out the dosing for someone that big..

(Dr. P is a clinical psychologist, though, not a psychiatrist, so he can't prescribe medication. He could refer to a psychiatrist, though.)

Edited February 7 by ams1001

[lu1535]

This guy was pathetic, I did cross stitch thru it so I was entertained. What got my attention and made me gasp was when the nutritionist Peyton pronounced her name as Pey-in? Now you know her parents never called her that! Who doesn't know how to pronounce their own name!?!?! This new way of speaking is making me stabby. 

[Red Bridey]

"Deshaun's Journey"??? The only journey this waste of space took was from the TV to the bed. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

You must have forgotten his epic trip to the balcony (yes, sarcastic).   I'm not sure I remember all of the episode, I think I dozed off sometimes.    Saturday night 7 to 9 pm central time on TLC is the Supersized edition.   

[FormeryHeavyJ]

My wife told me this episode was going to piss the hell out of me.  She watched it first-run.  I watched it this morning as I Peloton-ed.  Too sore to go lift.  Yeah I know.  Suck it up princess.

Anyhow, the entire family is nuttier than a jar of Skippy.  Here's what you do.  1) TV is gone.  You don't work therefore you did not buy it.  Say bye bye to the TV.  2) See that video game system?  I WILL go all Office Space fax machine on it right in front of Lord Layonmyassallday.  3) All meals will be served in the kitchen.  Don't want to wobble your way into the kitchen?  Starve.  4) I want to see a pay stub within 2 weeks or you can go sleep in the parking lot.  You're outta here like the saber tooth cat dumping Fred Flintstone out the front door.

[Pi237]

Bonus scene- Deshaun's physical therapist has him scoot to the end of the bed and lift his legs a few times.  Zzzzz.  His skin looks so bad. He's nice to her, and she seems really sweet and encouraging.  I would wash my hands a lot when I left though. Sorry, but his hygiene looks sketchy. 

Dr. Paradise 'I wonder what would make somebody want to say No to what would make their life better? ' 'Maybe you're worried you're going to fail. The easiest way to not fail is to not try' Deshaun is silent and non responsive as usual. And Dr. Paradise tells him that he's frustrating to talk to. "Is it frustrating to be you?" He admits he chooses to be stuck in the bed because he's not a social able person.  Paradise tells him he has a chance to save his life etc. He looks down and barely responds. He's just checked out. 

I really like Dr. Paradise. He has a way of getting people to face things without coming across confrontational. He's really good at what he does.

[Elizzikra]

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Sorry, but his hygiene looks sketchy. 

It is. His sister said she helps him with his washcloth wipe downs but otherwise she said she has seen him go months without touching water (except, I suppose, to mix with his kool aid powder). 

[Hellga]

I was travelling for work, and missed the episode live (in favor of going out with an old work friend).  Didn't even realize it was actually Wednesday aka Pounder Day because I was so focused on the presentation I had to do on Wednesday morning...

Then I turned the show on and saw it was in Omaha, I got excited.  I lived in Omaha for 8 years!   My excitement did not last.  Before the first ad break, listening to his story, I thought he needs a psychologist or even a psychiatrist first, he is a textbook clinical depression patient, and before that's taken care of, he has snowball's chance in hell of losing weight.   Unfortunately, he will just linger like this, and his enablers aren't making it any easier for him to change...

[Elizzikra]

Quote

Then I turned the show on and saw it was in Omaha, I got excited.  I lived in Omaha for 8 years! 

It could have been anywhere. He literally never left his apartment.

[Tipsymcstagger]

Sorry…I have no empathy for this waste of space and his family of enablers. He’s unbelievably rude, entitled and lazy. I don’t understand why Dr. Now was so deferential and accommodating. Maybe there’s more to this than was shown in the episode. But from everything shown here - this guy deserves absolutely no more assistance. Let him rot in his bed. Maybe then his family will have to get real jobs. 

[Snarkastikate]

So basically he had to stop robbing houses because he got too fat & now everyone in his family circle is collecting government money to "care" for him.