Throughout history, world records have symbolized triumphant feats, beacons of human perseverance, and symbols of indomitable spirit and dedication. The story of Jon Brower Minnoch, the heaviest man ever recorded, serves as a cautionary tale. His record-breaking weight, rather than symbolizing triumph, brought attention to the challenges and health risks associated with extreme obesity. To this day he still holds the record for the world's heaviest man.
Early Life and Weight Gain
Jon Brower Minnoch was born on September 29, 1941, in Bainbridge Island, Washington, as the only child of John and June Minnoch. From a young age, Jon's weight was noticeably above average, weighing around 7 lb (3 kg) at birth. His family moved to Bellingham when he was an infant. Minnoch suffered from obesity since childhood. At the age of 12, he weighed 294 lb (133 kg; 21.0 st).
Despite his weight, Jon had a childhood filled with normal activities, and he attended school just like his peers. By the time Minnoch attended Bothell High School his weight had skyrocketed to over 300 pounds. People this heavy usually begin to have trouble with mobility and breathing but Minnoch attests that he wasn’t inhibited in any way by his size. As he grew older, his weight continued to rise rapidly. Once he was re-measured and visited by a doctor in 1963, Jon had now grown to be 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) tall and weighed 178 kg (392 lb or 28 st).
Career and Marriage
Despite his condition, Minnoch tried to live a conventional life and stated that he was "in no way handicapped". He attended Bothell High School and drove taxi cabs for 17 years. In 1963, he married his girlfriend Jean McArdle. The couple decided to go into business together and opened the Bainbridge Island Taxi Co. Together, the couple worked for the taxi company Bainbridge Island Taxi Co. At the time, it was the only taxi cab company on Bainbridge Island.
During a further measurement in 1966, three years after his marriage to Jeannette, Jon was found to be 317 kg (700 lb or 50 st). On December 29, 1960, Minnoch committed second-degree burglary. Friends described Minnoch as a warm and funny family man.
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Record-Breaking Weight
Fast forward to 1978 and Minnoch’s weight had surged to an unprecedented 1,400 pounds making him the heaviest person who ever lived. It's possible Jon was suffering from a rare combination of factors that led to the accumulation of excess fluid in his body.
This wasn’t the only record that Minnoch broke that year. He and his wife Jean also set the record for the greatest weight difference between a married couple. At one point in 1978, he weighed 12 times more than his wife, breaking the record for the largest weight disparity between a married couple. However, Jon's hospitalization marked another record-breaking discovery for his family: in 1978 Jon and Jeannette broke the record for the greatest weight differential recorded for a married couple; a record that remains unbeaten to this day.
Hospitalization and Weight Loss
By early 1978, Jon was so tired of being overweight he decided to put himself on an extreme diet, for which he ate only about 500 calories per day for 60 days. Tired of the continuous pain and occasionally venturing into reckless diets which often ended in critical relapses after reducing his food intake to "almost nothing,” Jon put desperate effort into improving his condition. Carrying such immense weight became overwhelming for Minnoch and finally forced him to make a pivotal decision to address his health. Minnoch eventually "got so tired" of being heavy that he decided to cut his food intake to "almost nothing". Under a doctor's prescription, he went on a 600-calorie-a-day diet of only vegetables. He also took large doses of a diuretic that failed to eliminate excess fluid in his body.
Jon's health deteriorated to the point where he was suffering from congestive heart failure and respiratory failure. After about three weeks of weakness and being bedridden, he listened to his wife's pleas to enter a hospital. Once he arrived at the hospital, saturated with fluid and suffering from heart and respiratory failure, Jon was put in two beds lashed together.
In March 1978, Minnoch was admitted to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, suffering from heart and respiratory failure. According to the Daily Record in Ellensburg, Washington, and other sources, in March 1978, a dozen firemen from Bainbridge Island removed windows at Jon's home to get him into an ambulance. The logistics of transporting a man of Minnoch’s size posed an extraordinary challenge. Firefighters were forced to remove a window from his home and carefully position him on a thick plywood board. They carried him out on a thick piece of plywood and carefully transferred him to University Hospital in Seattle.
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Because he was so heavy, the conventional method of measuring his weight with a scale was impossible. After arriving at the hospital, Jon was placed on a respirator. The hospital fastened two beds together for him. There, he was placed on two beds pushed together, and it took thirteen attendants to roll him over.
Endocrinologist Robert Schwartz, estimated Minnoch’s weight to be approximately 1,400 pounds, though he acknowledged that the actual weight might have been even higher. At the hospital, Minnoch was diagnosed with a massive edema, a condition in which the body accumulates excess extracellular fluid. Due to his poor health, measuring his weight with a scale was impossible. However, endocrinologist Robert Schwartz estimated his weight to be about 1,400 lb (635 kilograms; 100 stone). According to Schwartz, he was "probably more than that. He was by at least 300 pounds the heaviest person ever reported", and "probably the most unusual thing about [Minnoch's] case was that he lived". He reached a peak body mass index of 186 kg/m2 and spent several days on a respirator. In April 1978, his doctors described his medical state as "critical".
Dr. Schwartz found that carbon dioxide was accumulating in Minnich’s blood stream due to his insufficient breathing and diagnosed him with Pickwickian syndrome.
During his time at University Hospital, Jon embarked on another diet. But this time, he was under the supervision of doctors, and his food intake was about 1,200 calories per day. Minnich spent 2 years in the hospital on a strict 1,200 calorie a day diet. Under the guidance of a medical professional, Minnoch adhered to a stringent 600-calorie-a-day diet, exclusively composed of vegetables. Simultaneously, he incorporated large doses of a diuretic in an attempt to alleviate excess fluid retention. Thanks to the diuretic, he was also losing nearly 8 quarts of fluid per day. "The nurses and doctors here have been fantastic," he told the Daily Record.
Jon adhered to his doctors' plans and made incredible progress, shedding weight rapidly. When discharged from the hospital, he weighed 476 lb (216 kg; 34 st), having lost 924 lb (419 kg; 66 st), the largest human weight loss ever documented at the time. The heaviest man in recorded history actually lost more weight than the maximum this scale can measure. Several months later, in July, Jon was about 475 pounds (215 kg), although he told the Wisconsin State Journal he didn't want anyone to take his photograph until he weighed significantly less. Jon was proud of his progress and wanted to make the most of the help he'd received. Nearly two years after Jon arrived, the hospital staff determined he had made enough progress to be allowed to go home.
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Minnoch left the hospital with a renewed lease on life. His goal was to get his weight down to 210 lbs. He hoped to eventually reach a weight of about 210 lb (95 kilograms; 15 stone), stating, "I've waited 37 years to get this chance at a new life".
Relapse and Death
Despite his monumental achievement in having lost more than 900 pounds (408 kg), Jon's health remained precarious. Despite his initial success, Minnoch began to put the weight back on. He was readmitted to the hospital just over a year later in October 1981, after his weight increased to 952 lb (432 kg; 68 st); he had managed to gain 200 lb (91 kg; 14 st) in just seven days. While the length of Jon's second major hospital stay is unknown, it's evident he tried to continue living as normal a life as possible.
Over the next three years his weight fluctuated dramatically until he passed away at the age of 41 on September 4th, 1983 from cardiac arrest with respiratory failure and restrictive lung disease. At the time of his death, he weighed 798 lb (362 kg; 57 st). According to his death certificate, Minnoch's immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest, with respiratory failure and restrictive lung disease as contributing factors.
He was interred at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Seattle, in a casket that measured 5 feet by 7.5 feet (1.5 meters by 2.3 meters) and spanned two burial plots. Minnoch was buried in a wooden casket made of plywood 3⁄4 inch (19.1 mm) thick and lined with cloth.
Personal Life and Family
Jon and Jean McArdle divorced in 1980, and he later married Shirley Ann Griffin in 1982. Minnoch’s father, a machinist, passed away from a heart attack in 1962. His mother, a registered nurse and a Seattle Pacific University graduate, died in 1986, three years after Jon.