School rallies around 510-pound teen to help him get healthy
6 hours ago
Matt Kryger / The Star
Eric Ekis started high school weighing in at over 500 pounds. Thanks to the help of teacher Don Wettrick he has started to exercise more and has started better eating habits. Here, Eric and others learn how to read the nutrition labels on packaged food.
It was hard not to notice the 510-pound freshman in English class who dwarfed his peers and walked with his head down, sullen and quiet.
His teacher knew that the 14-year-old needed help. What the teacher didn’t know was how Eric Ekis had ballooned to that weight — while mourning the death of his father. Or why this lonely kid didn’t seem to want to change, even though his classmates bullied him. Or that in helping Eric, he might just help the whole school.
On that first day of class at Franklin Community High School in Indiana this past fall, teacher Don Wettrick tried to engage this new student, suggesting they work out together.
“I’d like to but I can’t,” Eric said.
A few days later, Wettrick brought it up again. Again, Eric said no. Then Eric crushed a desk in class. Wettrick tried again, and again heard no.
He realized his methods were failing. He saw that Eric felt terrible — both physically and mentally. His classmates bullied him. One day Eric smelled so bad, Wettrick pulled him aside to talk about his hygiene. Eric said he knew it was a problem.
“I just don’t care,” Eric told him.
“About?”
“Anything.”
“When did you give up?” Wettrick asked.
“When my dad died.”
Eric cried as he explained that his dad died suddenly in 2010 of a brain aneurysm and soon afterward, 11-year-old Eric fell in the shower, shattering his leg. He underwent multiple surgeries and received rods and screws to fix it. At 6 feet tall and 300 pounds, the doctors feared that Eric might grow lopsidedly, so they broke his other leg to slow the growth. The surgeries rendered Eric bedridden, and months of rehab followed. His lack of mobility and grief made it easy for Eric to stress eat.
“After that is when he started putting weight on. Bedridden and upset and depressed,” says Laura Ekis, Eric’s mom. He gained weight so gradually they did not notice until he ballooned. Three years later, he was 6’4” and 510 pounds.
Now everyone noticed, and Wettrick needed a plan. The English teacher also taught an innovations class, which teaches kids to think creatively. One of his students, Kevin Stahl, a senior and star of the swim team, needed a project. Wettrick approached Kevin — how about a project to make Eric healthy? Kevin agreed.
Matt Kryger / The Star
Eric, middle, begins the day by stretching with his classmates.
Kevin suggested that Eric walk as a way to get used to exercising. First period every day, Eric walks.
“I was sick and tired of being big and bigger than everyone else,” Eric says. “I got lucky it was Kevin. Kevin is just a nice person. … I am glad he is my friend.”
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