Lance Lemcool had a weight problem that greatly altered his active lifestyle until gastric surgery with Dr. William Richards of USA Health got him back on his feet.
Lance Lemcool works as a project manager for a shipbuilding company. In his free time, he’s an avid diver. To say the least, this Daphne, Alabama, native’s lifestyle requires a lot of moving around. So when Lance began to gain weight that he couldn’t seem to lose, he knew it was time to get help.
“I was 150 pounds overweight,” Lance explains. “Having to walk up and down stairs all day at the shipyard wore me out and affected my performance. And all I wanted to do when I got home was lay in the recliner.”
On calm, clear days when he wasn’t working, Lance would look out the window at what should have been a perfect dive day. That’s when the excuses started building. It was so cumbersome just to stand up that he would talk himself out of going to the water time and time again. Spearfishing lost its allure as it meant he’d have to get in and out of the boat multiple times throughout the day, which was a near impossible task.
“I could still dive, but the effort to do so wasn’t worth it,” he adds. “You wouldn’t believe how many (scuba diving) weights it would take to get me below the surface.”
It was time for a change. Lance came home from work one night and told his wife they needed to talk. She knew his condition, having watched his body labor needlessly through menial tasks and was completely on board for what would come next – gastric surgery.
“I shout out the praise of USA Health and Dr. William Richards from a rooftop whenever I get a chance,” says Lance with a smile. “He treated me like a friend throughout the process.”
Dr. Richards and his team have extensive experience. He is the chair of the Department of Surgery and has expertise in all aspects of bariatric surgery, including laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, laparoscopic gastric bypass and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy.
“Dr. Richards changed my life,” declares Lance. “No pun intended, but I feel like a weight has been lifted off. I really hope anyone suffering from this kind of condition will seek out the help they need to get back to a normal lifestyle.”
