Hector Garcia gets a visit from his family to celebrate his 45th birthday. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
Hector Garcia Jr. is skeptical of the sugar-free cake his mother bought for him as he celebrates his 45th birthday with his niece, Lauren Ibarra. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
Hector Garcia Jr. uses a upper-body pedal exerciser at his home. Unable to leave the house or walk without the aid of a walker and wheelchair, Garcia had to figure out different ways to burn calories. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
Hector Garcia Jr. teases his mother and caretaker, Elena Garcia, as he shoots baskets at the West-side Family YMCA. When Garcia began going to the YMCA, he was only able to walk in the pool. As he lost weight and became more mobile, he could eventually lift weights. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
Hector Garcia Jr. pulls himself out of his wheelchair and then has to lean on a walker to get into the back seat of his mother's vehicle. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
As he begins to drift off, Hector Garcia Jr. is prepared for anesthesia and his first knee replacement surgery at Mission Trail Baptist Hospital. After years of carrying hundreds of extra pounds, Garcia could barely walk on his damaged knees. He'd lost more than 300 pounds on his own through dieting and exercise so he could have both knees fixed. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
Hector Garcia undergoes physical therapy after his first knee replacement operation. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
The deceased body of Hector Garcia Jr. is removed from his home by contractors with the Bexar County Medical Examiner's office after he said he couldn't breathe and collapsed. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
Crumb, one of the Garcia family dogs, lies on Hector Garcia Jr.'s bed shortly after his body was removed by contractors with the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office. Garcia collapsed in the living room after walking 40 feet from his room to the front door. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
Elena Garcia and Hector Garcia Sr., the parents of Hector Garcia Jr., are embraced by their best friends, Patsy and Ruben Villarreal, during the private viewing for their son at Trevino Funeral Home Palo Alto. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
Centro San Antonio Ambassador and shift supervisor Catherine Martinez adjusts her glasses after the annual Michelob Ultra River Walk Mud Parade in San Antonio. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
A nun makes her way through the late afternoon light falling on St. Peter's Square after a Novemdiales Mass, one of nine memorial masses for Pope John Paul II, in Vatican City, Rome. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
Rhodena Matthews, kisses her grandson, Braylon Nelson, 2, who was paralyzed in a road rage accident, at his home in San Antonio. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
In June 1999 Kathy Spencer weighed 60 pounds, one of her lowest weights during her 12-year battle with anorexia. Kathy died at the age of 41, on March, 8, 2008 in Scottsdale Arizona. © Lisa Krantz/Naples Daily News
Army Pfc. Kevin Trimble, 19, adjusts his myoelectric upper limb prosthetic for occupational therapy at the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. © Lisa Krantz/San Antonio Express-News/ZUMA Press
Victoria Graves lets her shawl blow in the summer breeze at the wedding of Nancy and Doug Van Reeth in Fort Collins, CO. © Lisa Krantz/Naples Daily News