Brother

I handed him a bottle of the protein shake I had at home. I went out and bought him fruits. I emailed to him an old picture of himself. And for the next two days, I spoke about nothing but healthy living and eating... I didn't know what else I could do.

I had discovered days earlier that my brother now high blood pressure. He’s 27. He’s also 30 kilos overweight. In fact, his BMI showed that he was severely obese.

In some ways, I blamed it on myself. I had sat and watched as my brother lost all sense of control when it came to indulging in his eating.

Growing up, he and I had always been big eaters. But he was an active teenager; he played basketball, went jogging, walked to classes, learned karate. As he liked to put it then he was ‘as fit as an ox’. In fact, I had always been the fat one. Annual visit with the relatives always ended up with comparisons on how fit he was and how fat I was. Over the past few years, while I had struggled and strived to whip myself into proper shape, my brother let himself go completely and started eating with a vengeance. He loved food. He loved cooking it and he loved eating it even more. And gradually over the months, he gained more and more weight till suddenly, I was the thin one and he was the fat one.

I basked in the praises initially. After a lifetime of being called a fatty.. I was happy when friend and relatives started telling me I’m not so fat after all. I still wasn’t in the shape should be, but it was a good start. I always thought that it was just a matter of time before my brother would turn himself around and start losing all the extra pounds. But that day and not come at all…. Life went on and he just kept eating and eating, and I just kept watching and watching doing nothing.

When it was plain to see that his weight was seriously out of control, my father and mother both attempted to convince him to lose weight. But it fell on deft ears. I gave him a few nudges too, but nothing forceful. I wanted to respect his ability as an adult to do what’s right for himself.

And then this news from the doctor came.

He had been falling sick a lot more in the past few months. And when the doctor took his blood pressure, it was way above normal.

I knew then that I had failed my brother. I had allowed this day to come by doing nothing. This was a sure sign that all was not well with his brother. High blood pressure meant that his entire body was under tremendous amounts of strain. People suffering high blood pressure suffered high risk of heart diseases and stroke. Once started on medication, a person often had to take it for life. And my brother was just still in his 20s.

This was it. I had to something. I could not live with myself if anything were to happen to him. For the first time in my life, the fear of losing my brother because more than just a mere thought. I got him on a diet. I told him to start an exercise regime. I started calling him every two days to see how it was doing. I bought fruits for him to take if he got hungry. I invited him for jogs in the park every Sunday evenings. I told him he had to quit this love affair he had for food. I challenged him to see that his current unhappiness in life had a lot to do with his self-image and his self-image had a lot to do with his state of health. I tried telling him that the problems in his life can’t be solved easily; a good first step is to start taking care of his body. I said every single thing I possibly could to get him committed to a new way of life and turn this around…… before it’s too late.

He was my one and only brother. Growing up, my father always told us that one day when both our parents were gone, we would have only each other. Male ego pretty much made sure that the chances of telling it straight to my brother was slim…

But the truth was, I loved my brother and I wasn’t really to lose him.

I'll be there with you every step of the way... but don’t let me down Jynn.. You’ll break my heart.