 My name is Diane Perron and I live in Barnaget, New Jersey. One of my big hobbies is photography. I've been taking pictures since I'm probably around 10 years old with a brownie camera that my mother had at the time. I have photographs from when I was a kid that from 1958 with friends of mine. And when I was working I traveled a lot. I went on vacation every year a couple times a year and took photographs everywhere that I went and I have some great memories. The last 20 years I have allowed myself to put on a lot of weight. I've always had a weight issue throughout my life, up and down, up and down. Been on many diets, lost weight, gained weight. But for the last 20 years I kind of just lost control. As I aged my mobility was challenged. I realized that I needed to do something about it. I had a co-worker that had the gastric sleeve surgery a number of years ago and I had noticed that she was losing a lot of weight and I questioned her about it and she gave me a lot of good information. So I thought, well maybe this could work for me. There was a bariatric center of excellence at Southern Ocean Medical Center which is 10-15 minutes away from home and I said, wow this might work. And then I made a phone call, set up a consultation. The first consultation was very encouraging. The doctor was very positive and he felt that even in spite of my age that I could be a success. Because that was one big concern I had. I underwent the gastric sleeve procedure. That was the one that I felt was less invasive and the doctor felt that that was appropriate for me. The whole office team that I spent time with, the nurses, the nutritionists were all extremely helpful and extremely positive and the fact that they were all a team that were working with me really made me feel confident that I could succeed. My surgery was almost two and a half years ago and if I recall correctly I say within five to seven days there was no more pain. And the pain was manageable, it was just gas pain pretty much. Since my surgery in early April 2017 I've lost 210 pounds which is more than half my weight. It makes me feel great and it makes me feel like I should have done this a whole lot sooner. My life has changed so dramatically that I'm feeling good and doing things I want to do now. I want to travel and I want to enjoy my retirement and not be sitting at home unable to walk and move.