Brighten Your Day

Man Loses 400 Pounds In One Year, Thanks To 'Draw Something' And A Woman 4,000 Miles Away

April 29, 2014

From across the ocean, a London woman inspired an obese American alcoholic to lose nearly 400 pounds, ditch the alcohol and embrace life in just over a year.

Michigan man Brian Flemming was 30 years-old, over 600 pounds, and an alcoholic with medical problems that were gaining momentum.

To distract himself from the depression that saw him drinking heavily each night and eating to fill the void, Flemming played Draw Something, a Pictionary-inspired app, which matched him randomly with opponent Jackie Eastham in London.

One evening in the spring of 2012, the pair chatted via their game of Draw Something and hit it off. The friendship developed onto other online mediums, including Skype and Facebook.

Gradually, Flemming began to confide in Eastham about his weight problems, and about his drinking, a secret he'd kept even from his parents.

"I just thought bloody hell, you're a guy who's 30... and you're wasting your life," Eastham told CNN.

"She said there were people struggling for their lives and then there's you - you have all these opportunities and you're throwing it all away," said Flemming, now 32.

Flemming quit drinking cold turkey. That alone saw Flemming lose 100 pounds in one month without changing any other aspect of his life. He followed that up later with a healthier diet and regular exercise.

It wasn't until one year after their initial chat on Draw Something that the pair met in person. Now they visit eachother regularly.

"Jackie is the best thing that's ever happened to me," he wrote on his blog. "I feel that she saved my life, even though she would never take credit."

Source: dailymail