'My 600lb Life' patient Delana Boyer drops 107lbs after TLC breaks 'cardinal rule'
HENDERSONVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA: In the third episode of 'My 600-lb Life' Season 12, we met Delana Boyer from Greenville, Tennessee, who has frequently hit hard times, prompting her to resort to food for comfort. She had a rocky start to her weight reduction quest, but she rapidly recovered and demonstrated to Dr Younan Nowzaradan that she was serious.
In some of the show's final moments, Delana is shown walking better than before and being able to go on dates with her husband again. A brief look at Delana's Facebook profile indicates she appears to be doing well in 2024.
Although Delana's current weight is unknown, she appears happier and healthier in recent photos. Delana appears to presently reside in Hendersonville, North Carolina.
Prior to her episode's premiere, she shared a few thoughts on Facebook with viewers, "While watching, please remember that I am a real person, that this is really my life, that this was the lowest point in my life, and that I am beginning to live again! I am still a work in progress. I'm not where I want to be, but I’m not where I used to be either!"
It appears that Delana has not abandoned all of her negative behaviors, but she is still moving ahead and thinking positively, which is wonderful to hear. As the show says at the outset, the prospects of long-term success for those on the show are fewer than 5%.
However, any progress counts.
Who is Delana Boyer on 'My 600-lb Life' Season 12?
Delana did not have the easiest childhood. After her actual mother, Sharon, left, her first cousin raised her.
Sharon returned to her life when she was six, and she ended up kidnapping Delana for a year before releasing her to her cousin. Delana got pregnant at the age of 20, but her then-partner was violent, so she fled.
When it came time to deliver her kid, she received devastating news: he was a full-term stillborn. "It was the hardest moment of my life," Delana remarked.
Delana remarried and gave birth to a child, but her husband divorced her soon after and gained custody of their child. Delana did not have an attorney at the time, thus she was unable to fight back.
She married again and had a daughter, Savannah. However, Savannah's father turned out to be violent, so Delana left him and took full custody of Savannah.
Savannah was raised by Delana until the age of 12, when they had a quarrel and Savannah moved to live with her uncle. Savannah, aged 19, refuses to move back in with Delana because she is embarrassed by her weight.
After Savannah left home, Delana explored online dating and met her present spouse, James, with whom she had been married for six years. As he remarks in the episode, he feels more like a caregiver than a spouse because he is always responding to Delana's weight.
Delana, who doesn't leave the house due to her weight and requires assistance moving around it, weighed 646 pounds at the start of the episode.
"The first thought that I have when I open my eyes is I made it to another day. I didn't die in my sleep," she stated in the episode.
What happened to Delana Boyer on 'My 600-lb Life' Season 12?
Ultimately, Delana felt ready to make a shift in her life. She spent a year working with the show's resident surgeon, Dr Now, in Houston, Texas.
Delana's weight-loss journey did not go smoothly. She was scheduled to lose 50 pounds during her first weigh-in with Dr Now, but she gained five pounds instead.
However, that setback appeared to motivate Delana to do things correctly the following time. The second time she met Dr Now, she weighed 578 pounds and had been cleared for bariatric surgery.
She weighed 539 pounds at the time of the treatment and planned to reduce 20 pounds every month afterward.
'My 600-lb Life' production forced to break 'cardinal rule' to help Delana Boyer
Previously, Delana was "extremely excited" to visit the doctor, and she was optimistic that their car would make it to Houston, stating, "Vehicle-wise, I think there's not going to be any issues...it's been running perfectly fine." Sadly, things did not proceed as expected.
The production crew shooting Delana for this season of 'My 600-Lb Life' was forced to breach its "cardinal rule" of never interfering in the lives of its reality TV stars when an emergency occurred on the road. In the March 20 episode, Delana, who is new to Season 12 of the show, was running errands before finishing her road journey to meet Dr Now in Houston, Texas.
Her car broke down in the middle of the road, between two lanes. With the automobile not working, the production team "broke their own rule of never intervening," according to the writing on the screen, by pushing the vehicle to safety on the side of the road.
When they arrived, Delana seemed upset about the situation, and they proceeded to Houston and Dr Now.
Watch 'My 600-lb Life' Season 12 on TLC on Wednesdays at 8 pm EST.