16 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 18, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Phone: 905-845-3824, ext. 248 Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: angela@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007 First, the office assisted in the arrangement of an ambulance to Buffalo where Fallon received an MRI Monday. Schill achieved a hasty 24-hour turnaround on the out-of-country MRI request. Fallon has a pituitary gland tumor, which he has had for about half his life. Fallon's doctors agreed it needed to be assessed. However, he couldn't have the MRI at the Oakville hospital because the machine there couldn't accommodate his size. Flynn said Fallon's weight exceeded the capacity of the MRI table. Williston cringed at the thought of taking Fallon in the family van across the border herself in case his health should collapse en route. Doctors are awaiting the results of the MRI before they make any treatment recommendations and the hospital ombudsman has been attempting to facilitate access of treatment options. Fallon remains in hospital, is off oxygen, his sores are clearing up and has lost about 30 pounds. Flynn's office is also assisting Williston and Fallon with an application for in-patient treatment at a rehabilitation centre in Guelph. Williston has her eye on Homewood Health Centre, one of the largest, inpatient, eating disorder programs in Canada. Yet after visiting the facility last week, Williston said there is only one, maybe two, beds paid through Ontario's health system. A bed costs roughly $7,000 per month and Fallon would need a four to nine-week program -- and there is a waiting list of up to a year, three to six months if there is a referral from a doctor and/or psychiatrist. Flynn said there are eating disorder programs such as one at Credit Valley Hospital whose costs are recoverable under the healthcare system. Williston, however, said it's in-patient treatment that will be effective for Fallon and is frustrated by waiting lists and private costs. Flynn's office is working with Fallon and Williston in drafting a letter to the Minister of Health to outline the concerns surrounding Fallon's difficulty in finding treatment. Fallon and Williston are coming forward publicly in the hope that others will also come forward to improve the situation for people who are obese. Williston said she goes home almost nightly to see media stories about obesity, however, she is frustrated in finding treatment options. Schill and Flynn agreed there is a focus on prevention in school programs and family life, but that the letter to the minister would convey Fallon and Williston's concern about the availability of treatment options. Fallon's condition has gradually escalated over his lifetime to what it is today. He was always a big kid in school, played football while avoiding pool parties because of self-consciousness. Three years ago his weight became problematic with his job so he took a medical leave and went on disability pension. Shortly before he had moved home with his parents and was focused on caring for them. His dad, William Sr., is in a wheelchair and his mom, Dorothy, is not in good health. The trio live in the basement apartment of Bill Fallon Jr. feels like crap. It's not just because he weighs nearly 500 pounds and is, therefore, in such poor health that he's living on the edge at age 45. Fallon just can't help eating. "I have no willpower. People say `You should get some.' That's what I want to learn," said Fallon. On St. Patrick's Day Fallon was taken to Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) with seeping leg wounds caused by poor circulation. He also said he has diabetes and difficulty breathing -- bad enough to need oxygen when he was admitted to hospital -- and a very stressed heart. He could have died, said his aunt Kathy Williston. Many of Fallon's health problems are related to being overweight. Not by a little either. He weighed in at the hospital at 503 pounds he had to be taken downstairs to be weighed as the scale on the floor he was admitted only goes to 500. Fallon has been advised to lose a lot of the weight. "The doctors have said it's not a suggestion," said Fallon. Living in Oakville since 1968, Fallon was schooled here, played football at the former Gordon E. Perdue High School and until three years ago was working at a manufacturing job in neighbouring Mississauga. The day his doctor told him he could die if he doesn't get control of his weight his first thought was to finish the lunch that was sitting on his bedside tray, he said. That afternoon, according to both Fallon and his aunt, he broke down and cried. He knows he needs to lose weight, but just doesn't know how. For Fallon, it's not that easy to say just don't eat. "It's an addiction," said his aunt, who returned to Oakville where she had lived 17 years before moving east, to help her nephew. Williston believes it's hopeless if Fallon returns home -- an environment in which no matter how much his family supports him and is willing to try to help him, just won't support the radically new eating and lifestyle habits he needs to literally survive. Fallon said at home, food is plentiful and often breakfast is stretched over the entire morning -- with coffee, then cereal, then toast, then eggs, until it is time to decide what's for lunch. Fallon outlined that chips are always around and if food is around, he'll eat it. He'll often snack on cheese and crackers while waiting for the toast to pop up in the toaster for grilled cheese sandwiches. "If there are a couple of cookies out, Bill will eat them. If the bag is out, it will be gone," said Williston. As frustrating as it all is, Williston encountered even more frustration when she attempted to find a rehabilitation setting in which her nephew could regain his health -- and the skills and support to sustain it. Williston believes her nephew needs an inpatient rehabilitation program and support to Deadly Obsession If he can't control his diet, Bill Fallon Jr. is in danger of eating himself to death JEROME LESSARD / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER MARKING TIME: Oakville resident Bill Fallon Jr., 45, was recently admitted to hospital with myriad health issues caused by his weight -- 503 pounds. get a grip on his obesity and myriad health Williston turned to Oakville MPP Kevin problems. Flynn for help in negotiIn Williston's eyes, ating the health care sysout-patient programs "I have no willpower. People say tem and has been workjust won't be enough to 'You should get some.' That's ing with constituency work for Fallon who she office assistant Jennifer what I want to learn." said is an addict. Schill, who has been in Then there are mobilalmost daily contact with Bill Fallon Jr. ity issues in getting to Williston and Fallon. such programs. Fallon After discussing prihad been having trouble orities with the doctor crossing the room, never mind out in the com- treating Fallon at OTMH, Schill embarked on a munity. His size prevented him from getting in multi-pronged course of action to help the his family van and certainly from driving it. long-time Oakville resident as much as possible. See Obesity page 17