http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/08/2306020/through-body-building-family-finds.htmlAfter surviving gastric bypass surgery, Juan Morato turned to healthy living and will compete in the NPC Southern States bodybuilding championships.By DAVID J. NEAL
dneal@MiamiHerald.com
On Saturday morning, 51-year-old Juan Morato will stand on the War Memorial Auditorium stage at the NPC Southern States bodybuilding championships, a 6-0, 200-pound living “After” picture of strength and health.
Morato will do so after embodying two kinds of “Before” pictures – 450 pounds of mass consumption and, later, wheelchair-bound, paralyzed from the neck down. That Morato didn’t die between those two “Before” shots, that he carries a symmetrical, chiseled physique now can be credited to his strength, discipline … and the love of a woman. And her strength. And her faith.
“If it would’ve been the other way around, I wouldn’t have been able to handle it,” Morato said in a tone that reflects 30 years of affection and admiration for wife, Teresa, who competed in the Over 50 Figure competition Friday.
When a problem with gastric bypass surgery resulted in Juan being in a coma and so close to death, a priest was called in to give last rites, Teresa Morato substituted her own prayers for her husband’s recovery. When he left the hospital unable to do basic tasks and specialists saying he would have a tough time just walking again, she told them he’d be celebrating the next Christmas on his feet. When he recovered but ran himself down to a reedy 158 pounds, she told him on a Thursday that he had an appointment with a personal trainer Monday to put on some muscle.
Juan still almost cries today thinking about what Teresa and his then-teenage children, Jonathan and Jennifer, went through. He feels responsible for them sleeping on a South Miami Hospital conference room table night after night during his coma, awaking at 7 a.m. before medical staff needed the room for meetings.
“It was a team effort, 100 percent,” Juan said. “I can’t ask for better.”
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