Family Focus: My heart, my life

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In Friday night's family focus Gloria Davis is reflecting on how weight loss changed her lifestyle.
 
Davis, 52, lost 40 pounds and decided to change her lifestyle.
 
Davis worried she would fall victim to a family history of heart disease and diabetes. She said if she can turn things around, others can too.
 
She is one of hundreds of people who will take part in the American Heart Association's Heart Walk Saturday in uptown Charlotte.
 
This is Davis' 16^th year participating in the walk, but she told Channel 9 this year feels like the first time.
 
"No more back pain. No more knee pain because the weight is coming off," Davis said.
 
Davis has added a walking routine to her evenings. Most nights, Davis walks with her husband in north Charlotte.
 
It's not something she used to do but she said being 150 pounds overweight and with a family history of heart disease, walking is now something she has to do.
 
"I pray a lot and asked God to help me. I knew if I didn't the time I reached 60 I probably wouldn't be here," Davis said.
 
Davis was so serious about avoiding the same fate she had bariatric surgery in July.
 
The surgery coupled with healthier eating habits, has led Davis to lose 40 pounds. She no longer suffers from sleep apnea or high blood pressure.
 
To celebrate her now-healthier heart, Davis will walk Saturday in the uptown Charlotte heart walk.
 
Davis's efforts this year made her a finalist for the American Heart Association's lifestyle change award.
 
Her new lifestyle also led her husband, Sylvester Davis, to change his lifestyle as well. He's lost 20 pounds.
 
"Now she gets up and buzzes around. She runs circles around me. I'm like wait, is this the same person I married a few years ago," Sylvester Davis said.
 
Gloria Davis would argue she isn't the same person.
 
And much like this weekend's heart walk she continues to change one step at a time.

WSOC