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470-pound Pasco man too big for MRI machine
Doctors say Gary Rooney, who weighs 470 pounds, is too obese to fit into their MRI or cat scan machines.
PASCO COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- A Pasco County man in desperate need of further medical testing can't get it because he's too big.
Doctors say, at 470 pounds, Gary Rooney is too obese to fit into their MRI or cat scan machines. The tests are needed to find out what's wrong with him.
"They've tried to x-ray him and scan him and they can't do it because of the body mass," said Rooney's wife, Terry. "We just need a scan to pinpoint what's wrong with him."
Rooney has been in the intensive care unit at Community Hospital in New Port Richey since Aug. 14.
"He had some sharp pain on his side, little difficulty breathing," Terry said. "He was taken by ambulance here."
There is an open MRI at Rose Radiology in Palm Harbor that allows patients to be scanned from multiple positions without being closed in. But it can only handle patients up to 450 pounds.
"When you're 470 pounds it becomes very difficult," said Rose Radiology founder Dr. Manuel Rose. "You get into limits of weight. And you also get into dimensional obstructions."
Rose said it's going to be hard to find an MRI or cat scan that can handle Rooney.
"This would be difficult probably anywhere in the Bay area," he said.
Rooney's family has run into that problem as they search for a hospital that can accommodate him.
"I've called over 25 hospitals, MRI centers," said Rooney's sister, Colleen ."The family has also called approximately 40 to 50. The hospital has been helping us and we can't find anyone."
"This could kill him waiting. Or surgery is very risky too," Terry Rooney said. "We just need somebody who knows anything at all about big medicine for a big person. Anything at all that might help us please get in contact with us."
Even the youngest member of the family is growing desperate.
"I just really want to find some help for him and I love him and I don't want him to die," said Rooney's granddaughter, Kaela Kling. "He's my only Grandpa left."
Rooney decided earlier this year that he needed to lose weight and lost 70 pounds this summer.
His doctor said if Rooney doesn't get a scan soon he may have to have exploratory surgery, which is considered a high risk procedure for him.
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