Weight-loss journey

She wants to shop for a prom dress, buy clothing at a regular mall store and walk easily across the stage on graduation day.

``I don't want to wheeze when I grab my diploma,'' said Sarah White, 16, of Vandercook Lake. ``I don't want to graduate in a really large gown.''

With more than 410 pounds on her 5-foot, 4-inch frame, the Vandercook Lake High School junior is desperate to lose the weight that for years has restricted her activities, drawn sneers from some classmates and compromised her health.

She is scheduled to undergo gastric bypass surgery Tuesday at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. White will be the first adolescent to have the weight-loss surgery as part of the UM Health System's new Pediatric Comprehensive Weight Management Center program.

``Her health is so significantly affected that surgery is warranted,'' said Dr. Susan Woolford, a university pediatrician and the center's medical director.

The university set up the family-focused program a year ago to combat the growing problem of childhood obesity. White entered in February 2007 when she was at her peak weight of 423 pounds, said her mother, Patricia White.

Sarah White revamped her diet and started exercising more, but did not lose much weight due to underlying health conditions, including a thyroid problem, Woolford said.

The surgery, which restructures the digestive tract and shrinks the stomach to limit the intake of food, is becoming increasingly common among teens as more struggle with obesity. But it still is not performed often, doctors said.

Some children's hospitals do not offer the surgery, and Woolford said she doesn't know of gastric bypass ever having been performed on an adolescent at UM.

According to medical literature, there are concerns about the long-term effects and the ability of pediatric patients to give informed consent to an invasive procedure that involves a lifetime of follow-up care and dietary restrictions.

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