Teretha Hollis-Neely, a 48-year-old African-American woman, is the subject of an episode of the documentary series My 600-lb Life. In the early 2000s, she was a project coordinator for the City of Detroit’s Healthy Eating and Exercise program. She wrote articles about racial and socioeconomic disparities in health – focusing on the staggering rates of obesity and diabetes in the lower income African-American community in particular. The articles she contributed to were published in well-respected journals including the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
[Related: My 600-lb Life — Chad Returning To Work, Getting 2018 Truck]
For the past 15 years, Teretha has struggled with her weight. She now weighs more than 700 pounds and is confined to her bed. In addition to Teretha’s own health issues, her husband Derrick Neely also suffers from severe physical ailments. According to the couple’s GoFundMe page, Derrick had his right foot and ankle amputated and goes to dialysis three days a week. The couple moved to Houston, Texas in order for Teretha to undergo gastric bypasss which will be featured on My 600-lb Life, which airs Wednesdays at 9pm on TLC.
