Anyone who has any medical knowledge will recognize this man’s condition as ascites --a fluid buildup in the abdomen caused by renal failure, among other things. Now, take a close look at the picture. On this fuckhead’s right arm is a dialysis catheter !
So, this guy is dying from renal failure, and all he can to is whoop and holler that he now has money to buy more beer ! And the contest organizers gave him a $250 prize for essentially killing himself!
There’s a big difference between a fat guy with a beer gut and a man with a terminal condition, asswipes!
Oh, and they canceled the wet t-shirt contest, but let this little circus sideshow go on!
You might be right about the ascites (from the photo angle that’s a pretty uniformly swollen and tense-looking abdomen), but if that’s what he’s got - given the context I’d put my money on ascites secondary to liver cirrhosis.
Holy fucking hell, he looks like one of those ants that allows itself to be [del]filled[/del] stuffed to bursting with aphid juice and hung from the ceiling of the ant colony like a living keg.
It might be a little too much to ask of beer-belly contest judges to recognize medical conditions. I’m not sure exactly what degree is a prerequisite for this particular position; it might not be pre-med…
But the guy himself likely knows, so I wonder if it could be considered cheating? Maybe he’s just taking advantage of his condition, even abstaining from beer, but playing it up to win a few bucks.
This is strange. The one article linked to says this guy is from Bullhead City, Ariz. My roommate when I lived in Oregon cut his professional teeth working for the tiny newspaper there. As I recall, Bullhead City is so far from anything their high schools play schools in California. And from how he described the inhabitants, it sounds like this guy’s comment on winning is dead on.
Not only does this guy have big time ascites (almost certainly from cirrhosis of the liver), but I think he’s in the midst of receiving medical care. Look at his right arm. You’ll see a dressing on his upper arm with a transparent window in front. To my eye, that looks a lot like the site of a PICC line. Compare what you see on his arm with this picture of a PICC line site or this one.
Seems like there should be some kind of interthoracic shunt or something to let these thoracic fluid people drain the excess. Then again, invasive shunts that are prone to infection might be contraindicated in people who have f*&^ed up immune response, say, really stressed people in ESRD or ESHD.
Oh, crap. Re-write. “If they denied him the opportunity to enter the “Biggest Beer Belly” contest, surely some lawyer would sue *the event organizers * under the ADA.”
Well…aside from bemoaning the obvious stupidity of someone with a medical condition not receiving proper care, what business is it of yours? So, this guy wants to drink beer to excess, if the guy dies from it, hell, I just hope he has a good time before he goes. Who cares?
And the fluid just re-accumulates after it’s drained anyway. So there’s usually no benefit to tapping it and risking hemorrhage and infection, when it won’t yield any long-term benefit.
Occasionally there’s been so much fluid that it pushed up against the diaphragm and compressed the lungs and interfered with breathing. In that circumstance I’ve tapped me some beer bellies to enable them to breathe more freely. But it’s just a temporary measure.
Ugh, why did I look at that picture? He looks like the girl in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory who swells up and turns into a blueberry. Although I guess he’d be a beerberry.
