'My mother would be proud': Cork man celebrates weight loss by wearing his first suit

A CORK man who has shed 13 stone in under a year celebrated a special milestone on Friday evening when he wore a suit for the first time in his life, honouring a wish of his late mother.

Douglas resident Aidan Dalton opted to undergo gastric sleeve surgery in Galway last August after battling with his weight for several decades.

Now healthier and happier, Aidan donned a suit for the first time ever last week to attend a celebratory event for a fundraiser he organised in aid of the Shine Centre for Autism which raised €10,500.

“I was never a suit person because my weight was up and down all the time,” he told The Echo.

“Mam said ‘I want to get you a suit’ and I said ‘mam, when I’m in the right place’.”

When his mother Eileen passed away five years ago, Aidan said he lost one of his “best friends” in life.

But her dream of buying her son a suit was kept alive by Aidan’s father Noel, aged in his early 90s.

Following the surgery and adhering to heathier eating habits and a more active lifestyle, Aidan — who weighed 32 stone at his heaviest —began to lose a significant amount of weight.

“Dad said, ‘you know your mother always wanted to get you a suit? I said ‘yes dad’, he said ‘I want to honour that,’” Aidan said.

And the fundraiser celebration night offered the perfect opportunity to get suited and booted.

The three-piece suit was purchased from Suits.ie (formerly Suits Distributors) at the South Link Business Park store from Ray Nugent.

“He was absolutely unbelievable,” Mr Dalton said.

“He made me feel so comfortable.

“My dad paid for it. I went down to show him, got dressed up, went down and he broke down.

“He said my mother would be proud and I’ve no doubt that she would be proud because I’m a different person.”

Reflecting on his weight loss journey, Aidan, 51, said he began struggling with his size at the age of 12.

He later went on to develop type 2 diabetes, a condition which he said he didn’t manage well.

In 2009, Aidan developed a clot in his leg, which had to be amputated three years later.

He said he attempted a myriad of diets but that he couldn’t sustain the weight loss.

“I’d lose seven stone, eight stone, and then I’d put it all back on,” he said.

One day, a nurse who then worked in the diabetes service at Cork University Hospital (CUH), Trish Murphy, suggested that Aidan might consider gastric sleeve surgery.

After doing some research, Aidan believed it to be the right choice for him, but it would take a number of years before he was called to undergo the surgery in Galway.

The surgery finally happened last August and, for him, Aidan said it has been transformative and that he now has a new lease on life after effectively withdrawing from society for 16 years due to his size.

“Professor [Chris] Collins and Catriona Lynch, bariatric nurse specialist, and all the team, they’ve given me my life back,” he said.

Asked what advice he would give to someone struggling with their relationship with food, Aidan said talking to someone is a crucial first step.

“Be open with someone that you really can trust, “ he said. “I was lucky with Diane [his wife].

“I have a few friends that I spoke openly about it with. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

“We all have something in life and we all go through something,” he said.

Meanwhile Diane said she could not be prouder of how far her husband has come.

“It’s unreal to see him so happy in himself,” she said.