Obese twins whose weight totalled 95st appear on My 600lb Life for weight loss surgery… but one suffers a life-threatening cardiac arrest while on the operating table
Distraught Brandi wept as her sister teetered on the brink of death in the TLC show
AN obese twin watched in horror as her sister’s heart stopped during gastric band surgery on my My 600lb Life.
Identical twins Brandi and Kandi Dreier, 30, from Vancouver, weighed in at 41.9 stone and 43.1 stone and were unable to leave the house after a traumatic childhood left them addicted to food.
But after opting for weight loss surgery Brandi – who said the pair only had “each other and food” in life – was traumatised when her sister went into cardiac arrest.
Brandi wept: “She’d better not leave me. Oh my God!” as Brandi was rushed into theatre for emergency treatment.
The obese twins turned to food as a comfort after being neglected by an alcoholic mother and drug dealer father, and abused by one of their acquaintances.
Kandi said: “As twins my sister and I have lived together our whole life and we’ve had the same struggles our whole life.
“We started gaining weight when we were young, as soon as we could eat solid food because our dad used food as a babysitter.
“When we would cry he would dump a whole box of cereal on the table because he didn’t want to deal with us.
“Neither of our parents had time for us so we had a lonely childhood. My parents both were addicted to drugs so we only had each other and food.”
Mum Bobbie admitted: “Their father was a drug dealer and he dealt out of the house so we had a lot of strangers in and out of our home.”
Kandi added: “We didn’t have anyone to protect us and we were molested by an acquaintance of our father.”
After consulting with the TLC show’s Dr Younan Nowzaradan in Houston, Texas, they embarked on a special diet to lose over 4st before weight loss surgery.
In fact both lost 5st in the first month and another 2st but tests showed that while Brandi's heart was normal, Kandi EKG was abnormal.
Brandi had the gastric band surgery and Kandi continued dieting and by the eighth month her heart readings were normal and she was also approved for the op.
However, things did not go as planned and Kandi went into cardiac arrest.
Although she was revived, she was put into an induced coma and Brandi was told it was touch and go and her twin might be brain-damaged
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After seven days she was woken up and, to Brandi’s relief, there was no brain damage.
In the following year the twins, featured on the new series of the show which aired in the US last night, managed to shed a staggering 32 stone between them.
Brandi lost 16.2 stone, weighing in at 25.7 stone while Kandi lost 15.8 stone, now weighing in at 27.4 stone.
They are also receiving counselling to deal with their childhood issues.
My 600lb Life airs in the UK from February on TLC