Sean Milliken “was admitted to the hospital” days before his death “because of an infection,” his father, Matt Milliken, reportedly wrote on Facebook, first reported by Radar Online. Sean, at the time, was “having problems with his breathing,” and while the doctors were able to “resuscitate him,” his father said that a short time later, his heart stopped and the My 600-lb. Life star passed away. TLC said that it was “saddened” by Sean’s death. Here’s what you need to know about this young man.
1. He once weighed 900 pounds. My 600-lb. Life focuses on the “medical journeys of morbidly obese people as they attempt to save their own lives,” and Sean fit the description to the fullest when he appeared on the final episode of Season 4 in 2016. After years of being bed-ridden, Sean’s weight had ballooned up to 900 lbs., making him one of not the heaviest person featured on the program, according to online reports (per Radar Online.)
2. Sean attributed his weight issue with a negative relationship with his father. As a young man, Sean said he and his father had a tumultuous relationship, and he often sought refuge in food in order to cope. “It was scary. So I would eat. And suddenly I felt a lot better,” Sean said, according to PEOPLE. “In that moment, nothing else mattered.” Sean’s parents divorced when he was ten years old — when he was already past 150 lbs. — but it seemed to only make things worse.
“I felt like it was my fault, I felt like my family had fallen apart because of me,” he said. “So I kept going to food to deal with those feelings. I would get out of school and my mom would be at work, so I would just come home and go straight to the fridge.
3. He was 400 pounds in high school. “I’d eat everything and anything I could get my hands on. I started gaining probably 50 lbs. a year,” Sean said, and he was over 400 lbs. by the time he was in high school. During his senior year, he suffered a torn ligament in his leg after falling down the stairs. The accident left him bedridden and unable to return to school, which only complicated his weight issues. In the eight years that followed, he rarely left his bed, and his weight ballooned to 900 lbs.
https://twitter.com/TLC/status/1097952507370840064
4. He relocated to Texas to undergo weight loss surgery. “I’m not 100 percent certain this is the right decision to make,” Sean said during his appearance on My 600-Lb. Life, per PEOPLE. He and his mother, Renee, relocated to Houston, Texas, as part of a drastic, last-ditch attempt to lose weight. “I’m leaving everything I know to save my life,” he said. “This is by far the biggest risk my mom and I have ever taken.”
For a moment, it looked as if it paid off. When TLC revisited Sean in 2017, they had found out he had lost over 400 pounds, according to TLC Me. While he was still struggling to move and function independently, he was more mobile than when he was at his heaviest.
5. He lost his mother in 2017. Sadly, Sean lost his mother in 2017. Renee, who struggled with her own eating disorders, attempted to take care of Sean, but tragically, passed away due to renal failure.
Our thoughts are with Sean’s family and friends in this time of loss.