STORM2K

480-Pound Woman Dies After Six Years On Couch


STUART, Fla. -- A 480-pound Martin County woman has died after emergency workers tried to remove her from the couch where she had remained for about six years.

Gayle Laverne Grinds, 40, died Wednesday, after a failed six-hour effort to dislodge her from the couch in her home. Workers say the home was filthy, and Grinds was too large to get up from the couch to even use the bathroom.

Everyone going inside the home had to wear protective gear. The stench was so powerful they had to blast in fresh air.

A preliminary autopsy on the the four-foot, ten-inch woman lists the cause of death as "morbid obesity." But officials want to know more about the circumstances inside the home.

Investigators say Grinds lived with a man named Herman Thomas, who says he tried to take care of her the best he could. He has told them he tried repeatedly to get her up, but simply couldn't. No charges have been filed, but officials are looking into negligence issues.

Emergency workers had to remove some sliding glass doors and lift the couch, with Grinds still on it, to a trailer behind a pickup truck. Removing her from the couch would be too painful, since her body was grafted to the fabric. After years of staying put, her skin had literally become one with the sofa and had to be surgically removed.

She died at Martin Memorial Hospital South, still attached to the couch.

Neighbors say they had no idea Grinds lived at the duplex, though they had seen Thomas and some children outside.

EWWW

I hate stories like that.

BTDT

We had a 440-pound man in cardiac arrest delivered to us via Army copter because our own lifeflight chopper couldn't carry him. It was the first time I ever felt useless doing chest compressions during CPR. He was so large and rotund that he didn't really lay flat, which made it difficult to do compressions adequately. A handful of us tried that, along with the other rescucitative measures. But we weren't able to save him.

It's sad to see people in that kind of debilitative physical state. I could stand to lose some pounds. But I thank God I can get out and get active everyday. I feel for those who, for whatever reason, are bed-ridden and while they can exercise their minds, they can't exercise their bodies.

I pray for her family. That had to be hard to go through.

nasty, but where is Richard Simmons when you need him...

Wonder why some peeps let themselves get that extremely obese? ...

Eric

OMG! That is terrible. Your mind goes in many directions....wondering what she did if she couldn't get to the bathroom. Then you tell yourself, no I can't go there.....I imagine the stench was unbearable. How that man could live with her is also shocking too!

My mother has really slowed down and won't exercise, get off the couch, sleeps until noon, does so very little. Woe is me. Long, long story. She broke her arm last year and you would have thought it was open heart surgery. She didn't even need surgery or to have it set, just a sling. Now I realize it was very painful but her doctor told her repeatedly to get moving, otherwise she could kiss that arm goodbye, it would be useless. She finally did the minimal to get motion back.

I am tempted to send her an article like this (although she's nowhere near this weight, still she wants to sit in that rocker or on her couch, for hours a day). My apologies if that sounds harsh, but this is also what came to mind when I read it - my own mother. Some people just don't want to hear what they 'should' do.....

Mary

This is terrible. It makes you wonder - did this poor woman have a medical condition that caused her weight to balloon? Did she get to the point where she just didn't care? It is so sad.

Reminds you in part of that movie "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" ...at the end so very sad about he, his brother and sister's morbidly obese mother and after the Mom makes her way up to her room for the last time and becomes bedridden...at least for me and I'm sure all of you, too...the unthinkable occurs...setting the house on fire with her still inside.

Eric

had a guy at work whos cousin died from a 4 wheeler accident sunday.He was 510lbs and had a 4 wheeler that would run 60 with him on it.He hit a hole and it thru him over the handle bars and his weight along with the momentum crushed his face and chest and he died right there.

That's both frightening and really, really sad.

that's disgusting.

That is sad. And scary.

Can I have a link to where this story originally came from? Was it an AP/UPI/news site story?

You know? I swear I saw this story several years ago. Exact same town, same circumstances. I am either nuts, or psychic!

How strange...

Windsong

Windsong wrote:You know? I swear I saw this story several years ago. Exact same town, same circumstances. I am either nuts, or psychic!

How strange...

Windsong

One year ago -- http://www.wftv.com/news/3643877/detail.html

Matt, reading old new stories?

Six years and could not even get up to use the bathroom? Could you imagine sitting in your own waste for 6 years? I wonder if that guy she was living with ever tried to change her clothing or tried to give her a sponge bath on the couch or something? That story just blew my mind! It is really gross but sad at the same time. They could of got her to hospital or something before it got to that extreme point.

and she's from florida...its nice there everyday she should excercise

JQ Public wrote:and she's from florida...its nice there everyday she should excercise

Can't really exercise now, if she's deceased.



The 911 call (she had asthma): http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/conte ... rinds.html

GalvestonDuck wrote:

JQ Public wrote:and she's from florida...its nice there everyday she should excercise

Can't really exercise now, if she's deceased.



The 911 call (she had asthma): http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/conte ... rinds.html

He was talking about beforehand