A 30 year old man found unexpected
inspiration and motivation to stop drinking and lose hundreds of pounds from a
woman he met online with the Pictionary-like mobile game called “Draw
Something.”
by John
Tyburski
Copyright © Daily Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
He was 30
years old, drinking heavily, and tipping the scales at 625 pounds. He was
pre-diabetic, suffering from a stubborn cellulitis infection, and watching too
much television. Life was on a rapid, downward spiral for Brian Flemming, and
that is when a mobile app and an optimistic online acquaintance began to change
everything. That is when Brian Flemming met Jackie Eastham via Draw Something.
A
Pictionary-like game for mobile devices, Draw Something randomly connected the
two and sowed the seeds of a very important international friendship based on
Flemming’s complete and transparent honesty about himself and Eastham’s honesty
about what she thought of it. Eastham, who resides in the U.K., had compassion
but little sympathy.
“She said
there were people struggling for their lives and then there’s you — you have
all these opportunities and you’re throwing it all away,” said Flemming, 32,
currently a business relations representative and part-time music teacher in
Canton, Michigan.
Eastham
knows about struggle. She suffers from mytonic dystrophy, a congenital form of
muscular dystrophy that progressively leads to muscle weakness and organ
complications. While her symptoms are still mild, she counts each day a
blessing.
“I just
thought bloody hell, you’re a guy who’s 30 … and you’re wasting your life,” she
said, remembering how she felt as the recipient of his drunken, self-pittying
messages. “My future is a lot gloomier. I’m trying to make the brightest future
I can, and … you’re dragging yourself down.”
Something
stirred in Flemming on that October day of 2012. He quit drinking and over
the next two years, the 6 foot 2 inch tall Flemming shed 380 pounds. It was not
easy.
The first
few days of not drinking were fraught with cold sweats, shaky hands, and
insomnia. Flemming kept himself busy and relied on daily chats with Eastham to
pull him through. The weight came off quickly with no more drinking, as
calories from alcohol were no longer coming in. Flemming lost 100 pounds in
only two months. He began to modify his diet by shunning fast food and shifting
toward lean protein and low sugar foods.
Flemming
slowly added physical activity into his daily regimen, eventually building up
to running 5-kilometer races. Today he is maintaining at 234 pounds and wants
to help others lose weight.
“Brian is so
inspiring,” Eastham said. “I hope he gets what he wants out of life.”
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