‘My 600-Lb Life’ Cast Member Dies from Heart Attack

Robert Buchel, an 842-pound man who had hoped to undergo life-saving weight loss surgery with the help of TLC‘s My 600-Lb Life, has died of a heart attack at the age of 41.

Buchel was the subject of Wednesday night’s episode of the reality show, and had successfully dropped to 502 pounds after dieting and undergoing surgery to remove one of the lymphedema masses on the right side of his body.

Buchel and his fiancee, Kathryn Lemanski, moved from New Jersey to Houston to work with Dr. Younan Nowzaradan. After the surgery, Buchel admitted to having a pain killer addiction. He even ripped his stitches to get more pills, and he reportedly refused to walk or exercise. He soon died after suffering a heart attack.

In a statement, TLC said it was “deeply saddened” by his loss.

The network added: “We are grateful to his family who were gracious enough to let us continue to share his brave story with our viewers. Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time.”

“I can’t believe I lost him,” Lemanski said on Wednesday’s episode. “He said, ‘I don’t think I’m going to make it through tonight.’ I said, ‘You’ll be fine.’ He said, ‘Just in case, understand I love you and always have. We laid down and he went to bed. He said he felt like he was having trouble breathing.”

Lemanski wrote on Facebook that Buchel struggled knowing that his life wasn’t going the way he had hoped.

“Rob suffered from never realizing how good a man he was and always felt inadequate and a failure,” she wrote two days after his death in November. “Thank you to all of you for validating my love for him. I knew what kind of soul he had but could never convince him of how truly special he was. A person like him should never have to die this way and certainly not this young and most definitely not when his life was about to begin.”

She added that he was becoming optimistic in his future after losing weight in the hospital.

“Rob had a hard life, and in the last two months he finally had hope for the life he always wanted,” she said.

On the show, before he saw some success with weight loss, Buchal shared why he wanted to lose the weight. “I can’t do anything. I can’t do anything for anyone, especially myself,” Buchel said on his episode. “I am completely dependent on my fiancee Kathryn. I should be able to take care of myself. I’m trapped in this body I call a prison,” he said.

His mother expressed concern over her son’s obesity. “He’s going to die,” she said. “I think he’s trying to kill himself with food. This is like a slow suicide. Food excites him. When he doesn’t get what he likes he becomes extremely anxious.”

Lemanski added, “Food is killing him and taking our future.”

A friend of Lemanski’s created a GoFundMe page to raise money for Buchel’s medical bills and funeral costs, and to help her move back to New Jersey.

“Kathryn incurred a crushing debt, between medical bills and moving expenses, only to have to pack up, turn around and move back,” the GoFundMe description reads. “Kathryn is one of the most selfless and giving individuals one could ever meet, she is well deserving of any help that can be offered.”