86 year old Johnnie Tyson, pictured right, laughs with her niece, Sandra Fleming, after their StoryCorps interview. Johnnie shared with us her experiences growing up during the Great Depression with the disease of obesity. Johnnie was born weighing 13 lbs and grew to 329 lbs by age 15. But thankfully, in the 60′s, the government approved intestinal bypass surgery, and Johnny was able to shed the extra pounds. “You accept life if you’re wise” she quipped, but as you can see here, she always approached life with a great deal of laughter. You go girl!

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