Journey Back From Obesity
by Norma Lugar
From March/April 2008 Issue

A lifetime caregiver, she was a natural nurturer. But when an ordinary disagreement escalated into a she said/she said court case, Deborah Lockhart was in for the most humiliating moment of her life: the moment her weight went on trial. In the end, she signed up for surgery.

She had spent two decades caring for others. So when another woman pulled out pepper-spray and doused her during an argument, Deborah Lockhart was shocked. Bad. And it got worse. In court, the opposing attorney used Deborah’s size to excuse his client’s actions, claiming that given Deborah’s bulk as opposed to his client’s petite frame, the dedicated surgery nurse and Carilion team leader seemed “menacing.”

“That was the turning point,” Lockhart recalls of the 2004 confrontation. “It was probably the most devastating experience in my life, having my weight made a public factor in a courtroom dispute.”

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