SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- After Ronnie Brower lost 425 pounds through diet and exercise, the skin on his stomach hung down to the middle of his thighs.

He also had sagging skin on his chest, arms and legs. The loose skin on his legs made flapping sounds when he tried to run.

The 30-year-old Syracuse man hid the hanging skin under baggy shorts and shirts.

"I was scared to take my shirt off in public," he says.

Shedding those 30 pounds of excess skin was the final step in a metamorphosis that began in 2013 after a physician assistant told Brower he'd die if he did not lose weight. At the time he tipped the scales at 675 pounds. He gave up booze, drugs and overeating, began working out three hours a day and adopted a healthy diet.

Ronnie Brower loses 455 lbs. in two years 14 Gallery: Ronnie Brower loses 455 lbs. in two years

Brower hit his goal of reducing his weight to 250 pounds last May, but the dramatic weight loss left him draped with extra skin he could not get rid of through exercise. So Brower went through 20 hours of surgery in a series of four operations that began in June and were completed just before Christmas.

He went to Dr. Dennis Hurwitz, a Pittsburgh plastic surgeon who specializes in removing excessive skin from patients after massive weight loss. Since 1998, Hurwitz has performed more than 1,000 of these operations, which he calls "total body lifts," on patients from all over the world. He recently traveled to Kuwait to perform an operation.

A producer on "Inside Edition," a syndicated TV news magazine program that has done stories about Brower, recommended Hurwitz, who has also been featured on the program.



Nervous about going under the knife

Brower was nervous about going under the knife. "But I figured God brought me this far and he wouldn't let me fail now," he says.

He drove to Pittsburgh for his operations with Nick Murphy and Jill Rupert, personal trainers who have mentored Brower on his weight loss journey, and Andrea Masella, his girlfriend of 10 months whom he met working out in the gym.

Dr. Dennis Hurwitz

Hurwitz performed the surgery in his office. He did the operation in stages that targeted different parts of Brower's body.

After each operation Brower recuperated in a hotel next door for a week and was monitored by a nurse. He took prescription narcotics for three to four days after each surgery to get through the pain. After returning to Syracuse, Brower stayed for a month at his girlfriend's house. His girlfriend's mother, a nurse, took care of him. He couldn't exercise or do much else while recovering. "The first two to three weeks after each surgery is pretty painful," Brower says.



As soon as he healed, it was back to Pittsburgh for more surgery.

"He's a real trouper," Hurwitz said.

Surgery like 'controlled trauma'

Hurwitz never worked with a patient who had lost as much weight as Brower.

He described the plastic surgery that redefined Brower's body as "sculpted artwork."

Hurwitz started on Brower's stomach, removing all the skin between the belly button and the pubic area. He then removed skin from Brower's chest and arms, and finally his thighs.

Going through the extensive surgery is "like being beaten up," Hurwitz says. "It's like controlled trauma to the body." Brower received thousands of stitches, but didn't do much complaining, according to Hurwitz.

"He's very upbeat and has a wonderful attitude," Hurwitz said.

Some of the skin Hurwitz removed from Brower was donated to a tissue bank in Pittsburgh and will be used in the treatment of burn victims and other patients.

Because of Brower's attitude and good physical condition, he healed quickly, Hurwitz said.

The surgery left Brower covered with scars. He has a big one down the middle of his stomach and another across his chest.



Looks like he was 'bitten by a shark'

"I look like I was bitten by a shark," Brower says. "They will fade a little, but I don't mind them. They are battle scars."

He says the pain and scars were worth it. "It's remarkable the work he did on my body," Brower says. "To go from having a stomach that was hanging down to a flat stomach is amazing."

Brower, who had been on disability since 2012, just returned to work. He got a part-time job driving a forklift to load trucks.

To help Brower pay for the surgery and related travel expenses, Joe Bufano, his friend and former high school teacher, set up a gofundme page that has raised more than $9,000.

Surgeon discounted his fee

Hurwitz charged $12,000 for the operation he says would normally cost $40,000.

Hurwitz is impressed Brower wants to help obese people lose weight the way Nick Murphy and Jill Rupert helped him. "That's the main reason I took him on," Hurwitz says.

Murphy and Rupert, who work with clients at a gym at Carrier Corp in DeWitt, befriended Brower after he asked Murphy for help in 2013.

Brower gained a lot of weight in high school when he started partying and drinking. After high school Brower says he sank into depression because he had no direction or purpose. "To cope with depression, I would eat, drink and pop pills," he says.

Used to eat 10 to 15 double cheeseburgers for dinner

He would eat 10 to 15 breakfast sandwiches at McDonalds in the morning. For dinner, he would chow down 10 to 15 double cheeseburgers.

He was so big he couldn't get to the gym, so Murphy and Rupert went to his house.

Initially they had him do simple exercises like standing up, sitting down and using an arm bike. During the second visit, Brower says Murphy and Rupert prayed over him. He says that prayer helped deliver him from his alcohol, food and drug addictions, and lift his depression.

"God intervened in my life," Brower says. "If it wasn't for God, Nick and Jill wouldn't be in my life. If it wasn't for those two, I'd be dead."

After three months, Brower started going to the gym where Murphy and Rupert see clients. He gradually worked his way up to three hours a day of cardio exercise on an elliptical machine.

Under Murphy's guidance, he also adopted a low-carbohydrate, high-fat and moderate protein diet designed to burn fat.

For breakfast he now eats four or five eggs with broccoli, mayonnaise and spicy brown mustard. For lunch, he drinks a protein shake. At dinner he eats 6 ounces of meat with broccoli or a salad.

Murphy says he initially doubted Brower would stick with the weight loss regimen.

'It's surreal to see him now'

"He completely proved me wrong," Murphy says. "It's surreal to see him now. He's living life at its fullest and catching up on years that he lost. He's not the same person."

Brower is now 220 pounds, less than a third of what he weighed in 2013,

His waist size is 36 inches, down from 84.

Murphy is teaching Brower to be a personal trainer.

Murphy, Rupert and Brower want to start a nonprofit program to help morbidly obese people lose weight through exercise, diet and counseling.

"I want to help people who are in the same situation I was in," Brower says. "If you change the way you think, you can lose weight."

You can also take your shirt off at the beach, something Brower plans to do next summer for the first time since he was in high school.

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