A 33-year-old Mexican, who was once certified as the heaviest man in the world, is recovering from a second stomach-reduction surgery that doctors hoped would help him shed more than 200 kilograms (440 pounds), the medical center treating him reported on Thursday.

 

Juan Pedro Franco, who once weighed in at a stunning 595 kilos – about the same as a male polar bear – began a weight-loss program a year ago, bringing his current weight to 366 kilos.

 

After the operation on Wednesday in the western city of Zapopan, Franco hoped to get down to a less-extreme 120 kilos, said a statement from Gastric Bypass Mexico.

 

“Juan Pedro did very well in this surgery,” surgeon Jose Antonio Castaneda said in a statement. “We are very optimistic.”

 

He said Franco should be released in the next few days.

 

Wednesday’s surgery, which followed an earlier operation in May, was performed by minimally invasive laparoscopy. This crucial procedure involved dividing Franco’s stomach in half to give it a much smaller capacity, while also removing a section of his intestine.

 

If all goes well, Castaneda said, the patient would be able to stop taking medications for diabetes and high blood pressure. Hopefully, Franco would also be able to walk again – for the first time in seven years.

 

The patient said he felt considerable anxiety but was nevertheless hopeful, as he looks ahead.

 

“I was more nervous than in the first surgery but I knew that this second surgery was a priority in my life if I am to be able to move forward,” Franco noted.

 

Franco said he was excited to be getting “closer and closer to having a healthy weight.”

 

The Guinness World Records organization certified early this 2017 that Franco, who was weighed last December at 595 kilos, was considered the heaviest living man.

 

That record had been held previously by another Mexican, Manuel Uribe, who weighed in at 597 kilos. But Uribe died in May 2016.          /kga