CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1323574
42 Januar y 2021 She and her husband of 21 years, Mariano, were married aer graduation in 2000. Five months later, they were expectant parents. Having two babies two years apart caused more weight gain, but whether she was gaining or losing, she was beautiful. Especially in her husband's eyes. "Oh my gosh, he's amazing. He loves me both ways," she said. "He was happy that I was going to get healthy, but he loves me either way." Like all bariatric surgery patients, adopting new eating habits was challenging to Santillan. Cape Fear Valley Health offers a support group for bariatric surgery patients, as well as a Facebook group. "I was not hungry, and that part was really nice," she said. "But it was difficult aerward in that even your taste buds change. You're trying to figure out what works for you and making sure you get enough protein in. "I've mentored a couple of people going through this process," she said. "I always tell them, you don't have to be perfect in terms of your diet. You can mess up, and you just have to get back on the horse and keep going. It's going to be ok." e hip and knee pain she had before her surgery has disappeared, enabling her to get down to the level of the subjects she adores. She also was able to take a three-week trip three months aer her surgery with a nonprofit organization to Eastern Europe, including to Romania and the Czech Republic. "at is one of the main reasons I had the surgery," she said. "I was having such a hard time going to these places. I couldn't sit in an airplane for 15 hours, and I couldn't hike to these remote areas where I needed to go. I just knew that I had to make a change." For nearly a decade, Rachael Santillan has sought opportunities to travel with nonprofit organizations to take photographs all over the world. Above, she is pictured with children in Ghana. Santillan is pictured in India with a group of children from The D.F. Blind School, Kolkata. Most of the children are completely blind and have been abandoned by their families. "But somehow they see life in a way that is completely joyful," she said.