How Chay On ‘My 600-lb Life’, Fights For His Life At 23

The unflinching TV show My 600-lb Life has explored the lives of people much heavier than 600-pound, 23-year-old Chay. But Supersized: Chay’s Story is as heart-wrenching as any of the others. First of all, Chay’s so young. Looking closely at him, you can still make out the teenager’s face he had not too long ago and see a tragic picture of what might have been. His eyes are still young–his skin too.

[‘My 600-lb Life’: Chay Now A Transgender Woman, Lola]

The tragedy is enlarged by Chay’s ability to express his own fears coupled with his altruism. He cares for his elderly grandparents and that lends particular sting and urgency to Chay’s story. His grandparents, it must be said, also care for Chay–and his inability to control his hunger is a death sentence he can see in the mirror and in every supermarket aisle. But it’s sentence he finds it hard to resist–the baked good section of the supermarket (his favorite) just “makes [him] happy.” Chay has more time than many of the others to turn his life around, but he’s also started down the road earlier than most. He’ll have to heal interior wounds before he can address what’s happened to the part of him we can see.