Streamwood woman finally has trim shape to match 85-pound weight loss

Like a lot of people, Kat England made a resolution last year to lose weight.

Unlike most dieters, she succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. In nine months, the 46-year-old Streamwood woman dropped from 210 pounds to just 125 through diet and exercise.

But it was hard to enjoy her new look, because her successful weight loss also left her with sagging, stretched-out skin all over her body.

Then she heard through her waitress job about an annual contest offered by Northbrook-based plastic surgeon Michael A. Epstein. (Her employer, Claim Jumper restaurant in Hoffman Estates, organized the weight-loss challenge that inspired her in the first place.)

For the past few years, Epstein has been offering one free procedure each year to the applicant whose need for plastic surgery was matched by a lack of financial means to afford it.

"They have to have a problem we can fix," Epstein said.

But beyond that, among this year's approximately 50 applicants, Epstein was looking for someone whose life journey made them deserving.

The choice is never easy, Epstein said, but he found England's consistency in putting others before herself the most moving story.

The $18,560 cost of the procedure is something England said she'd never have been able to pay "in a million years."

"Now I know what a million-dollar lottery winner feels like! Because that's what this is for me," England said. "I'm treating this as a whole life change."

To Epstein, this virtually inevitable consequence of extreme weight loss - sagging, excess skin - represents the next phase of America's obesity problem.

Troubles came early

England hasn't had an easy life. As she shared in her essay, when she was 5 years old, she was diagnosed with a rare disease that caused her body to be bruised when she was barely touched - which had led some to the false conclusion that she was abused.

When she was 14, her father died. Her pregnancy at age 15 was complicated by a painful cyst. And though she considers the birth of her daughter Misty and later Misty's sister Tristan to be ongoing blessings in her life, her teenage marriage turned into an eight-year nightmare,

It was only after fleeing that marriage that she met her husband, Paul, who continues to be the love of her life. She was working as a waitress in Chicago and Paul came to the restaurant as an out-of-town attendee of a food industry convention. One of England's fellow waitresses pointed him out, and predicted England would marry him.

Within the space of a few years, the couple were involved in four car accidents with drivers who either had no insurance or fled the scene. They lost almost all their clothes to the mold that infested an apartment building where they lived.

Then England was hit by a car while she was crossing the street, leaving her severely injured. And a decade ago, she had a full hysterectomy when a precancerous condition was diagnosed.

Finding inner peace

In her letter to Epstein, England emphasized that she's always tried to laugh at her bad luck and to not expect anything better from life.

But the problem she actually felt he could fix came from the weight gain she began experiencing in her early 30s.

During her years as a waitress, a large percentage of her diet came from the rich restaurant foods she's always around. When she resolved to lose weight, she began making her own salads and bringing vegetable juice to work.

She didn't have any set goal in mind in terms of her weight, but knew she'd recognize when things felt right. And she got there even more quickly than she expected.

"Anybody can do it," she said. "If I can do it, anybody can."

During a three-hour surgery, Epstein performed a body lift to remove the excess sagging skin from her trimmer frame. Support sutures within the tissue helped shape the new contours. The incisions were closed with sutures, skin adhesives, tapes or clips.

Though the majority of Epstein's surgeries are performed on an outpatient basis, England spent one night in an overnight care facility due to the extent of her procedure.

She then went home for a couple days wrapped in a protective garment before returning to Epstein's office for its removal.

"The garment makes you feel like you're being hugged by a sumo wrestler," she said.

"When they took the bandages off, I was absolutely thrilled with the results," England said. "I almost look like the person I was 15 years ago. These scars are going to be so much less than I ever thought, and the pain was a lot less than I thought it was going to be."

She says she'll be forever grateful to Epstein.

"To be given a blessing like this ... complete inner peace," England said. "It's great to be in a normal body. He's given me more than I think he'll ever know."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Is plastic surgery an appropriate contest prize?</p> <p class="News">Due to recent changes in American Society of Plastic Surgeons' bylaws, Kat England will be the last recipient of the free procedure Northbrook surgeon Dr. Michael Epstein has offered annually to the neediest applicant for the past few years.</p> <p class="News">"I think it is unfortunate that they would put stipulations on something like that," England said. "After all, people build houses for the poor and donate food, so why not be able to do this?"</p> <p class="News">The American Society of Plastic Surgeons last year reviewed the section of its code of ethics that deals with participation by members in charity raffles, fundraising events and contests in which the prize is a plastic surgery procedure.</p> <p class="News">The leadership concluded there was a lack of awareness about and difficulty in interpreting the previous guidelines for contests and giveaways. As a result, the ASPS decided to replace the guidelines with a prohibition against giving away procedures through contests or raffles.</p> <p class="News">Epstein said his intention has always been to help only those who need help, but he believes the changes were considered to prevent such abuses as people being persuaded to have procedures they wouldn't have otherwise considered.</p> <p class="News">"There certainly are patients who have expectations that can never be met, and you try to weed those patients out," Epstein said. "In medicine, we're held to slightly different standards than everyone else."</p>