Who Said the Fat Man Couldn't Do Anything?

I won’t bore you with the mundane of how I became interested in the martial arts I will just get to the story.

The year was 2002, I was a 30-year-old, married man with a 6-year-old son. I decided that I wanted to do karate. After talking it over with my wife, I started looking for a school. Seems like it would be an easy task, for me not so much. You see at the time I weighed 510 lbs. I didn’t think I wouldn’t able to take classes, my concern was with the uniform fitting. So I started emailing schools that had day classes in my area, was honest about my weight and my concern about the uniform. Some didn’t respond, one told me I wasn’t the right type of student, another told me they weren’t accepting new students. Then to my surprise, I received the email that would change my life.

This email came from Dennis Nackord, owner of the Nackord Karate System in King of Prussia, PA. Much to my surprise Mr. Nackord said he would like to talk to me, and asked when would be a good time for me to stop by the school? A couple of emails back and forth and I was set to come in the following week. I believe it was a Monday. When I arrived, Mr. Nackord had stepped out for a minute but that is when I met John VanCleve, the school’s manager. We had a brief conversation, discussed my concerns, and was told not to worry about the uniform, that’s not an issue. The next day I had my first lesson and I was hooked. Before long I was testing for a yellow belt. I remember looking in the mirror at the end of the test wearing that belt and saying “Who said the fat man couldn’t do anything?” Not long after reaching this milestone I was hit with my first roadblock.

I was diagnosed with a condition known as lymphedema in my lower legs. Turns out the lymphatic system in my lower legs was damaged causing swelling. Hmm, I just thought it was because I was fat. Anyway, as a result, 3 times a week for the next 12 weeks I was commuting to the University of Pennsylvania’s Lymphedema Clinic for treatment which included each leg being wrapped with foam padding and 12 short stretch bandages. Upon being diagnosed I thought I would have to stop karate. How am I going to be kicking pads and people with my leg condition? I was really upset at that possibility, however, my wife was a little more optimistic. As fate would have it, we ran into John coming out of a store and she told him I was thinking I would have to stop due to this condition. His response, “Don’t stop training, we can work around it.” Right then I knew I was in the right school for me. With that roadblock removed, I continued training and moving through the ranks. Then came a life-changing decision that needed to be made. It was time to address the weight.

I had risen to the rank of a green belt, still hovering in the 500 lb range. I decided, with much discussion with my family, that I needed to do something or they would be burying me sooner rather than later. So with my wife’s support, I underwent gastric bypass surgery. Going into this surgery, the research I had done said that 1 in 200 patients at my weight or higher die during the surgery. The surgeon that performed it put me at ease and told me not to worry, I wasn’t the heaviest person he had operated on. Further, with over 1200 surgeries he hadn’t lost anyone. So in July of 2004, I got a second chance at living. The day of surgery I weighed in at 534 lbs and I held the rank of green belt in Kenpo karate. Who said the fat man couldn’t do anything?

I returned to training as soon as I was cleared. Taking it slowly at first but I was on a mission. You see, I had never given much thought to rank in the beginning because of my size. Post surgery, as the weight was coming off (ultimately losing 310lbs) I saw the goal I didn’t dare speak of prior to having the surgery – Black belt.

Training post surgery was great. I started taking more classes and I started to help teach. I eventually ended up teaching the Friday night kids classes on my own. At this point in my training, I had achieved the rank of first brown. For those that don’t know what that means, that’s a brown belt with three black stripes. You are, in essence, a black belt candidate waiting to be told you are ready to test.

Before long I was given the word. Mr. Nackord and John felt I was ready. I was terrified but at the same time I was ecstatic. A couple months before my test the school moved to a new location, so I would be part of the first class of black belts promoted at the new school. I knew this day would come once I earned that 3rd black stripe, so I had begun to prepare for the test the very next day. I was not going to look bad during this test.

There was a lot of running involved trying to get my cardiovascular conditioning where it needed to be, but it paid off. After the testing of the candidates and the demonstrations of the higher ranks, the testing board went into Mr. Nackord’s office to discuss what they had seen. Meanwhile I’m wondering if I passed and trying to get my nerves under control. The panel emerges from the office and we are told to line up. Mr. Nackord gives a talk while John is placing the new belts at our feet. We’re told to kneel, take off our belts, fold them, and place them to left of our new belt creating an “L” . We were then told to touch our heads to the new belt transferring the knowledge. We then stood, put on the new belts and assumed our new ranks. Then came the kick. In Kenpo when you achieve black belt and all degrees above black you receive a front kick in the stomach from the head of the school. It’s called being booted up into the rank. What a great day that was! When my wife came out on the floor I remember saying, “I did it, who said the fat man couldn’t do anything?”

Fast forward a few years and I earned my second degree and was on schedule for my 3rd degree and my body decided it was going to be the one to say I couldn’t do something.

Around 2010 I started having pain in my knees and my right hip. I was not surprised. Carrying as much weight around as I did for as long as I did, I knew arthritis was in my future. First up was a series of injections in my knees. This seemed to handle the knee pain, however, I was still having pain in my right hip. So I had to go to a different doctor for that and over the course of the next year, I went through all of the preliminary treatments for my hip: physical therapy, cortisone shots, and Orthovisc injections. After all of this with no relief, I was sent to an orthopedic surgeon, who comes into the exam room with a photocopy of my x-ray and says to me and my wife “you need a new hip.”

Not what I was expecting to hear at 39 years old. So in August of 2011, 5 months before I was due to test for my 3rd degree I was having a new hip put in. In my mind, I was thinking this was no big deal. After all, Mr. Nackord has an artificial hip. But the universe said to me “not so fast.” Five weeks later I was back in the hospital with an infected hip facing the possibility of having the implant removed and being bedridden for 8 weeks. Fortunately, it didn’t come to that, but it took the wind out of my sails. I had a hard time returning to training after that because quite simply-I was scared. This feeling sidelined me for 6 years. Last summer, I started to feel that I had some unfinished business, so with my wife’s encouragement, I went back to Nackord Karate.

My training now is a little different than it was in the past. The kicks aren’t as high. My stances aren’t as deep as they use to be, and pivoting on the right leg creates a challenge. Even with that, it feels good to be back and I feel energized. I know not too far in the distant future I will be faced with another hip replacement as my left hip is on borrowed time. Eventually, both knees will need to be replaced. It used to be a paralyzing thought, now I have accepted it and have moved on. I am looking forward to what the future brings me in the arts. I have rank goals that I will achieve and I am looking to get back into teaching as well.