445公斤英國男子切除贅皮獲新生

For a man who once weighed 980 pounds and had already lost 650 of them, the loss of 50 more — the amount that vanished after Paul Mason's nine-and-a-half-hour operation last month — might not seem like a big deal.

對於一個曾重達980磅（約爲445公斤），並已經減掉650磅（約爲295公斤）的人來說，再減掉50磅好像根本不算什麼。保羅·梅森就是這樣，他上個月剛剛通過9個半小時的手術減掉了50磅（23公斤）。

But Mr. Mason, who at his heaviest was known informally as the world's fattest man, had been all but crippled by those 50 pounds, loose skin that hung over his body like melted wax over a candlestick. And so its absence has made all the difference.

但是對於梅森——這個體重最重時被民間傳爲世界上最胖的人來說， 身上50磅鬆鬆垮垮的皮膚就像融化的燭蠟堪堪掛在燭臺上一樣，這50磅消失後，一切都不一樣了。

It means he can get out of his wheelchair and go for a walk. It means he can take a shower standing up. It means that his knees no longer ache, that he can slip easily in and out of bed without feeling like he has anvils strapped to his thighs, that he has sensation in his feet, and that when he puts his pants on he does not have to contend with an apron of extra flesh flopping from his waist to his thighs.

現在的他可以甩掉輪椅獨立行走；可以站着洗澡。現在的他膝蓋不再疼痛；上下牀時不再像大腿綁着鐵砧一樣；雙腳也有了知覺；穿褲子時也不用再和從腰上耷拉到大腿的一圈肉做鬥爭。

"It seems a bit weird," Mr. Mason said recently. "I'd got so used to maneuvering my excess skin out of the way."

"感覺有點詭異，"梅森最近說道。"畢竟我已經習慣隨時把我多餘的皮膚想辦法撥開了。"

It took a lot of planning and a great deal of good fortune for Mr. Mason, who is 54 and comes from Ipswich, England, to have the operation at all. Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where it was performed, waived all its fees. So did the four plastic surgeons who operated, and so did the general surgeon, the anesthesiologist and the nurses who took part.

來自英國伊普斯維奇現年54歲的梅森做足了準備才終於完成了這項手術。進行手術的曼哈頓上東區勒諾克斯山醫院免去了一切手術費用。同時，執刀的四名整形外科醫生、普通外科醫生、麻醉師和參加手術的護士都沒收取任何費用。

Mr. Mason's bills would probably have exceeded $250,000, said Dr. Jennifer Capla, the surgeon who led the team at Lenox Hill.

據勒諾克斯山醫院領導這支手術隊伍的醫師珍妮弗·卡普拉說，梅森的賬單大概會超出25萬美元（約合155.2萬元）。

It took Mr. Mason a long time to get as fat as he was, and it has taken him a long time to try to shed all that weight and find a life approaching normalcy. Bullied, sexually abused and unloved as a child, he said he dulled his feelings with more and more food. Eventually he got into bed and kept eating until he became too heavy to get out. Finally, spurred by a sympathetic therapist, he had gastric bypass surgery, in England, overhauled his diet and dropped to 350 pounds.

梅森經歷了很長時間才變得這麼胖，又花了很長時間瘦下來，過上正常人的生活。幼年時期遭遇的欺凌、性虐待、失寵讓他依賴越來越多地進食來發泄情緒。結果他躺到牀上，一直不停地吃，吃到胖得沒法下牀。最終，在一名同情他的臨牀醫師的鼓勵下，他在英國進行了胃分流手術，徹底改變了飲食，把體重減到了350磅。

Back at home now in Orange, Mass., where Mr. Mason has moved to be with Ms. Mountain, the couple still faces many obstacles.

如今梅森已經回到家鄉馬薩諸塞州的奧蘭治市，並和蒙特恩住在了一起。然而這對眷侶面前的路途依舊坎坷。

Though her cat-furniture business is beginning to take off, Ms. Mountain said, she does all the work herself and she struggles to keep up with orders. Money is very tight, and there are issues surrounding Mr. Mason's immigration status.

蒙特恩說，儘管她的貓傢俱事業正有所起色，但她要獨立負擔所有工作，疲於及時處理接到的訂單。家裏財政緊缺，同時梅森的移民身份也有些問題。

His visa is scheduled to run out in a few months. He and Ms. Mountain cannot get married and live together in the United States until she can prove to the authorities that she has the means to support him as well as herself, she said.

梅森的簽證還有幾個月就到期了。如果蒙特恩不能證明自己有能力同時養活他和自己，他們就不能在美國結婚生活，她解釋道。

"Somehow or other he will find a way to stay, and then he can maybe take a part-time job in town," she said.

"總有辦法能留下的，到時候他大概可以在城裏做份兼職吧，"她說。

"Stacking shelves, whatever I can do," Mr. Mason said. "I don't mind."

"擺架子，只要是我能做的就行，"梅森說。"我不在意具體是什麼工作。"

Down the line, he hopes to have at least one more operation, to remove the flesh that still hangs from his upper arms. But that is in the future. At the moment Mr. Mason is just adjusting to his new self, emerging into a different life; one with more possibility.

梅森希望將來至少能再進行一次手術，切除他耷拉在上臂的肉。但這些都是後話，現在的梅森還在適應全新的自己，步入完全不同的人生，感受新人生的萬千可能。

He does not get as tired as he did just after the operation and is now walking his dog, Duke, in the garden every morning, something that was unthinkable before. He and Ms. Mountain have done some gardening, and are starting to make plans to grow vegetables and fruit.

梅森覺得和術後初期相比已經沒那麼累了。現在他每天早上在花園裏遛他的狗，杜克(Duke)，這在以前想都不敢想。他和蒙特恩一起修建了花園，並籌劃着種上蔬菜水果。

The other day, they went to the movies. It seems like a small thing, but it wasn't.

前幾天他們還一起去看了場電影。聽上去沒什麼但實際上卻很特別。

"I was able to sit in a cinema seat for the first time in 30 years and hold hands and cuddle, like couples do," he said.

"這是我人生三十年來第一次能坐在電影院座位裏，還能像情侶一樣牽手擁抱，"他說。