Marci Serota, RDN, tackles her son’s HO with success and shares her story in her book, Hungry for Solutions.
Hypothalamic Obesity (HO) can be a devastating co-morbidity of brain tumors originating in the pituitary/hypothalamic axis. The condition may mean uncontrollable hunger and weight gain in patients from damage to the hypothalamus, which is the control center for our hunger and thirst. When this mechanism is damaged, the body can be tricked into starvation mode, making the patient constantly hungry while the body stores calories as fat.
The condition is rare and many studies suggest that it cannot be treated, leaving patients and families feeling hopeless for answers, Marci Serota included. She was desperate for some relief for her son’s HO when his uncontrollable weight gain was causing early indications of fatty liver disease at age 9 as a result of hypothalamic damage from a craniopharyngioma. As a registered dietician, she decided she needed to find some way to try to beat this condition and developed a nutrition plan based on lower carbs and whole unprocessed foods. Her plan helped him lose 40 pounds and restore his liver to a healthy state.
This past December, Marci released Hungry for Solutions, A Mother’s Quest to Defeat Hypothalamic and Childhood Obesity, a book that details her family’s story and lays out the food plan that helped her son. She hopes that others would benefit from the tools she put in place to maintain her son’s health in the face of this life-threatening condition.
As part of the Raymond A. Wood Foundation’s mission to provide support to caregivers and pediatric brain tumor patients navigating the challenges after tumor treatment, we are offering complimentary copies of this book to caregivers and survivors with the goal of providing hope in management of HO.
Request your copy of Marci’s book and listen to her interview posted at the top of this page to hear about how she continues to manage her son’s HO while keeping a positive perspective in what can seem like a constant uphill battle as an advocate and caregiver.
Marci will be presenting at the Pituitary Brain Tumor Day at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia on March 16th. Register now »
(Please note that we are shipping books in the U.S. only)
