Joe’s Story: A Second Chance at This One-Night-Only Show

Joe Davis comes from a family that loved food ... and ate their feelings. 

Depression ran deep. The weight always came back. At his lowest, when he joined the Air Force, Joe was 165 pounds. But life has a way of piling on. His second marriage unraveled. His younger sister was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and passed away in 2016 at just 44 years old. Joe ate his way to 365 pounds. Then, at age 50, he had a stroke. 

“I knew it was time to do something or die,” Joe said. He attended a virtual information session with GBMC’s Comprehensive Obesity Management Program and began the journey toward the kind of life he was determined to live. 

The COMP staff helped Joe navigate everything, insurance requirements, pre-surgery expectations, and the lifestyle changes that would give him the best chance of success. He engaged with the support groups, studied the patient binder, and began transforming his habits before he ever reached the operating room. By surgery day in September 2019, he’d already brought his weight down to 308 pounds. 

“I’d heard repeated stories of friends and family who had gotten the surgery and put the weight back on,” Joe said. “I was and am determined to not be another of those statistics.” 

Post-op, the COMP team remained just as engaged. The changes were immediate and profound. Joe’s list of what’s different now is long, and every item on it tells a story of quiet suffering that has finally ended. 

“I can buy clothes anywhere. I can borrow someone else’s clothes. I don’t hide from pictures. I can get on an airplane without heart-stopping anxiety. I can ride on amusement park rides without checking the weight limitations,” he said. 

And then there’s the running. It started, of all things, because of cicadas. During his post-op walks, Joe picked up the pace to avoid them landing on him. He repeated the experiment. Then he tried Couch-to-5K. Five half marathons later, with his sixth in Key West in January 2026, running is his happy place. 

“I feel as though I’ve been given a second chance,” Joe said. “Something rare in this one-night-only show we call a human life. I am truly living my best life.” 

Joe’s story is about a man who stared down grief, loss, and his own mortality and chose to fight. GBMC’s COMP gave him the tools. The rest has been all heart.