Special Education Teacher Shares How She ‘Got Her Life Back’ with Weight Loss Surgery

10/10/2023

Ashley Duschek, a 38-year-old special education teacher, recalls struggling with her weight since childhood. She tried diets, and some actually worked for a while. But after having children all that changed and she was never able to lose the excess weight.

Then at the age of 30, Ashley was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. “It seems like from that point on my energy levels were never the same. I was constantly tired and my weight started skyrocketing,” said Ashley. “And the pandemic certainly made life harder. Being inside more negatively affected my health and pushed me to my heaviest, 314 pounds,” said Ashley.

Finally Ashley decided that she had enough. “I knew deep down that I had to make a change. I had to do this for me and I had to do this for my family, because they needed me,” said Ashley.

Ashley’s first step was to meet with Dr. Vinay Tumuluri, one of the Northwest Medical Group physicians specializing in medical weight loss. With his support and guidance, she initially lost 26 pounds to prepare for her gastric bypass surgery. She underwent bariatric surgery in August 2022 and as of September 2023, she has lost 140 pounds.

“Today I honestly feel like I have gotten my life back. I’m now physically capable of doing so much more with my kids and it’s such a blessing,” said Ashley.

Advice: “You must go into weight loss surgery with the mindset that you are going to stay committed to the process. You are going to need to tell yourself, ’no matter what, I’m going to listen to my doctors, and I’m going to stay true.’”

To learn about the bariatric weight loss services at Northwest Health visit nwhealthin.com/bariatric-weight-loss.

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