Manuel Uribe has only one wish in life: to be able to walk down the aisle with his fiancée by his side. And the Mexican native is working hard to make that dream a reality, but it won't be easy.
Uribe is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's heaviest human being, at one time weighing in at an astounding 1,235 pounds. He's shed 550 of that excess flab over the past two years, but still remains bed ridden and unable to get up.
Despite that, he's hoping to be light enough on his feet by the time his wedding rolls around that he'll be able to walk 38-year-old Claudia Solis to the altar. "It frustrates me a little, because it is not easy to get out," Uribe - who has been confined to a bed for six years - explains. "We are in love, and this year my birthday wish is to be able to stand when we get married."
A previous attempt to transport the 43-year-old to Solis's birthday party was foiled when the flatbed truck used to move his reinforced bed became lodged under an overpass.
But the couple is refusing to let that deter them from having a life together and Uribe is using the love of a good woman to spur him on in his effort to shed all those excess pounds and one day be able to take a stroll.
Solis, a 38-year-old hairdresser, met her betrothed four years ago and they've been an item for at least half that time. She admits dealing with her husband-to-be's considerable size has been a real problem.
"I bathe him every day, and we get along very well," she reveals, showing off an engagement ring. "At times, yes, people say things ... that it's a fake relationship, but what we have is real."
Uribe quickly agrees. "We are a couple," he makes clear. "We have sex, and in the eyes of God we are already married." Now both want to make it official.
All this may lead you to wonder how Uribe came to find himself in such a terrible predicament in the extreme battle of the bulge. He admits it's his own fault and that his weight spiraled out of control when he moved to the U.S. in 1998 and began gorging on junk food and drinking sugar-laden soft drinks non-stop.
He tried to have liposuction to remove the fat but the operation was botched and left him with giant tumours on his legs, making it impossible for him to walk. "It is all because of the junk food," he laments.
Two years ago, doctors stepped in and placed the ailing man on a strict diet, giving him small portions of chicken, ham, fruits and vegetables five times a day. That's how he lost more than 550 lbs. and it's how he intends to shed even more. In fact, he hopes to hit Guinness again for a new and much more positive record - the person who's lost the most weight on the planet.
Until then, Uribe wants to share his story with others in the hope it will serve as a warning about diet, junk food and the need for moderation in all things.
And he's picked a great day to start the campaign. He's celebrating his birthday on Wednesday and if he can't go to Solis, she plans to be there with him. "It is a miracle he is still alive," she admits. "He's going to turn 43, and that is something we have to celebrate."
Photo credit: Alejandro Acosta/AFP/Getty Images