Newark Beth Israel & Children's Hospital of New Jersey's Healthy Together: Spring 2022

Page 18

Bariatric surgery patient Dorian Bernard travels frequently for his work as a photographer.

BEFORE

AFTER

DOWN

120 POUNDS HOW WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY GAVE AN IRVINGTON MAN THE TOOLS TO CHANGE HIS LIFE

Healthy Together

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F

or most of Dorian Bernard’s life, emotions and eating went hand in hand. “My family celebrated everything with food, and we cried with food,” says Bernard, 54, an Irvington resident. “I’d say yes to cakes, cupcakes and everything else. The only thing I’d pass on was the cardio.” Those habits led him to a love-hate

relationship with his weight, which fluctuated over the years. When his mom, Connie, developed blood cancer in 2017, Bernard became her primary caregiver. He began masking his sadness with food. That caused his weight to soar and his mood to sink, and left him exhausted. His lowest point: when he saw his mother’s primary care physician,

Spring 2022

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