One day I received an eight page handwritten letter written on pages from a yellow legal pad. His name was Mikey. “Please help my dad”…and he included a picture of Michael Hebranko ... I called him every other day.
He was losing weight rapidly. He lost over 700 pounds. Michael’s dream was to be in one of my videos. He danced in Sweatin to the oldies 2. And he was very good.
I continued to call him and made sure he was on program. Michael began gaining his weight back and then gained all of his weight back. He was put in the hospital several times and when I was in New York I would visit him.
When I came home I sent him a cd player and some music that he would like . I called him two weeks before he passed away. His wife did not have enough money to bury him. When you don’t have the money they bury you in potter’s field. I did not want that, so I sent his wife money to help with the burial.
Every time a daytime talk show would be in contact with an obese person, they called me. I continued to do Ms R’s show plus Jenny Jones, Jerry Springer before he did controversial shows, and Maury Povitch before he did you are the father shows.
Since these people could not be flown in, I went to them. The Guinness book of records said that Rosalie Bradford was the largest woman in the world weighing over one thousand pounds. She lost close to 700 pounds and passed away due to complications.
I got another letter from a friend of Rosemarie Carnemolla. I went to visit her. I entered Rosemaries bedroom. There were large plaster of Paris sculptures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. I could tell she was a smoker but I never mentioned it. “Richard please help me I want to live “
She wanted to have weight loss surgery and asked for my help. I put my feelers out there and Dr Sepata got in touch with me . He performed the surgery at no cost.
Later she had another surgery to remove excess skin. Rosemarie became a taxi driver for a few years before she passed away. When I lost these people and many others I felt sick. Sometimes I would leave my house and walk for a few miles. Cars would stop and say hey “Richard need a ride?”
When I arrived home, I crawled into my bed with sheets over my head. I asked myself, “maybe I didn’t try hard enough.” Then I realized it really was not my fault. And I did as many shows as I could to help people. Let me dry my tears and help some more people…
Love,
Richard
