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A photo of Henry James Foots

Henry James Foots 1958 - 2013

Henry James Foots of Harris County, Texas was born on July 17, 1958 to Addie Virginia Foots. He married Lycurgus "Kirk" (Walker) Foots on August 21, 2011 in Harris County, and they were married until Henry's death on May 16, 2013. Henry Foots was buried on May 21, 2013 at Brookside Cemetery in Houston.
Henry James Foots
Henry
Harris County, Texas
July 17, 1958
Harris County, Texas, United States
May 16, 2013
Houston, Harris County, Texas, United States
Male
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Henry James Foots' History: 1958 - 2013

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  • Introduction

    Henry James Foots was born to Porter Foots Sr. (1917 - 2005) and Addie Virginia Hamilton (1924 - 2017) in Texas. Records indicate that he lived his entire life in Harris County Texas. He had five siblings. Featured on "My 600 Pound Life" Season 1 on TLC, Henry had a near-death experience after his second skin removal surgery. After, he said "I saw a white light. It was just like having an out of body experience. There was the light to take me to Heaven [but] I wasn't ready for it, because there's so much here on earth I haven't did yet." At age 47, he weighed 750 pounds and decided to lose weight for his upcoming high school reunion. Opting for gastric bypass surgery, Henry lost 475 pounds in total and also had surgeries to remove excess skin. On August 21 2011, he married his long time girlfriend Lycurgus "Kirk" (Walker) Foots with whom he had lived for a number of years. According to Texas marriage records, he was age 53 and she was age 61. They were married in Harris County Texas. Lycurgus would later share that because of Henry's weight she often felt more like a caretaker rather than a partner and this put a strain on their relationship. On November 29, 2012, Henry suffered an unspecified "medical incident" that caused him to pass out while driving a shuttle bus. The resulting accident caused the bus to hit an SUV and then run into a woman standing on the corner. She died from her injuries. The 11 passengers on the bus were injured but none of the injuries were life-threatening. The shuttle bus was providing transportation for the Texas Medical Center. Henry recovered. See Shuttle bus crash victim identified for more details. Henry died on May 16, 2013, several months after the shuttle bus accident, due to undisclosed reasons. His death was unrelated to the bus accident and his weight loss. He was the first cast member who died, the second being another death, 41 year old Robert Buchel, in 2017. See My 600 Lb Life deaths: . Also see Henry James Foots: Obituary.
  • 07/17
    1958

    Birthday

    July 17, 1958
    Birthdate
    Harris County, Texas United States
    Birthplace
  • Ethnicity & Family History

    Henry was an African-American born to Porter Foots Sr (October 10th 1917 - September 19th 2005) and Addie Foots (March 2nd 1924 - August 24th 2017). He had a brother Porter Foots Jr. (February 9th 1947 - November 24th 2002) and a sister Priscilla Lynn Foots. His father Porter served as a private in the USAAF during World War II, and after the war worked as a truck helper for a stock paper company in Houston.
  • Nationality & Locations

    Henry was born, raised, and lived his entire life in Harris County, Texas. He is buried in Brookside Cemetery in Houson. Public records show Henry as living at: 6513 Letcher Street in Houston, Texas 77028, 3405 Hardie Street in Houston, Texas 77026, and in 1996 at 191 Glazebrook Drive also in Houston Texas 77060.
  • Religious Beliefs

    Henry's funeral was at New Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Houston, Texas.
  • Professional Career

    Henry was a bus driver, and towards the end of his career worked for SLL Transportation which was contracted by Harris Health System for shuttle services to the Texas Medical Center located at 6550 Bertner Avenue, Houston, Texas 77030.
  • Personal Life & Family

    Henry struggled with his weight for most of his life. He enjoyed eating and began to gain weight beginning in his junior high school years. His mother Addie Virginia Foots shared that Henry would often hide in the bathroom to eat food. At his peak, he weighed 715 pounds which resulted in his appearance on the television show 'My 600-lb Life'. At age 47 he began working with Dr. Younan Nowzaradan -"Dr. Now" - who eventually agreed to provide gastric bypass surgery on Henry. As a result, Henry lost 340 pounds after two skin removal surgeries, an improved diet, and gastric bypass surgery. He continued to struggle with his weight loss even after the surgery, and at the time of his death, he weighed 275 pounds. Source: You can read more about the television show "My 600-lb Life" and the doctor who performs weight loss surgery at ,
  • 05/16
    2013

    Death

    May 16, 2013
    Death date
    never disclosed: it's said that it was unrelated to his weight loss and his shuttle bus accident
    Cause of death
    Houston, Harris County, Texas United States
    Death location
  • 05/21
    2013

    Gravesite & Burial

    May 21, 2013
    Funeral date
    Brookside Cemetery in Houston, Texas United States of America
    Burial location
  • Obituary

    Mr. Henry Foots went home to be with the Lord on Thursday May 16, 2013. Visitation will be from 9 - 11 a.m. The funeral will begin at 11 a.m. Both services will be Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at New Pleasant Grove Baptist Church 3221 Bain Street, Houston, Texas 77026. Pastor Charles Turner will officiate. Interment is at Brookside Cemetery. Services entrusted to: Oscar Johnson Funeral Home 415 Berry Road Houston, Texas. - Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) May 20, 2013 at .
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9 Memories, Stories & Photos about Henry

Shuttle bus crash victim identified
Robert Arnold wrote an article titled "Shuttle bus crash victim identified" which appeared in Click2Houston on November 30th 2012 where he described the incident involving Henry's death.

In this article he describes the scene where the shuttle bus that Henry was driving lost control and crashed into Carlet Michelle Blake, who was 43 at the time, standing on the corner of an intersection near a Texas Medical Center.

Henry was driving eleven passengers at the time of the incident, and all of them were transferred to the nearby hospital, but none had serious injuries. Witnesses say that Henry simply 'passed out' before the crash, and one of the passengers attempted to steer the bus to avoid an incident.

The shuttle was owned and operated by SLL Transportation and was contracted by Harris Health System for shuttle services to the Texas Medical Center. Harris Health System gave a statement after the incident that reads "Harris Health System expresses our deepest sympathy to the friends and family of the woman who lost her life in last night's accident, as well as concern for our injured employees. The van was operated by SLL Transportation, LLC, which is contracted to the health system to provide shuttle services for employees. The accident is under investigation by Houston Police Department."
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My 600 Lb Life deaths:
What happened to Henry Foots from Season 1?

(UPDATE – Since this article was written, there’s unfortunately been an addition to the number of My 600 Lb Life deaths. 41-year-old Robert Buchel, a season six participant from New Jersey, passed away from a heart attack due in part to the emotional complications he suffered after surgery to remove a lymphedema mass. Click here for our feature on how Kathryn Lemanski, Robert’s fiancée, is dealing with the fallout.)

Despite the popular belief that there’ve been several My 600 Lb Life deaths, over its five full seasons only one of the show’s cast members has died. That man is Texan Henry Foots, whose mild-mannered determination and sweet disposition made him the show’s first fan favorite when his episode aired all the way back in Season 1. 750-pound Henry was intent on losing weight for his health’s sake, but also so he could make a favorable impression during his upcoming high school reunion.

And lose weight he did: Henry dropped over half of his body weight, getting down to around 275 pounds at what appears to have been his smallest point and undergoing skin removal surgery thanks to his sustained weight loss success. After his second such surgery, Henry actually died on the operating table before being resuscitated; he would tell TLC’s cameras about the experience: “I saw a white light. It was just like having an out of body experience,” he said. “There was the light to take me to Heaven [but] I wasn’t ready for it, because there’s so much here on earth I haven’t did yet.”

A great deal of the confusion about Henry Foot’s death appears to stem from a bus accident he was involved in not long before his passing. Per , Henry was driving a shuttle bus on November 29, 2012 when he suffered a “medical episode”–eyewitnesses said it looked like he may have passed out at the wheel–and lost control of the vehicle, cruising through an intersection, crashing into an SUV, and killing Carlet Michelle Blake as she stood on a corner nearby.

The Click2Houston article appears to be the only one detailing the incident, so there’s no way to follow-up on exactly what the “medical episode” might have been (elsewhere in the article, investigators “say they have not yet determined the exact nature” of the problem.)

So, if you Google around for “My 600 Lb Life deaths” or “Henry Foots death,” you’ll find several articles and blog posts claiming that he died in a bus accident, or because of a bus accident, or because he suffered a heart attack while driving a bus. But none of those claims are true. All we know for sure is that Henry died several months later, on May 16, 2013, of unspecified causes. His official obituary, printed in the Houston Chronicle and reprinted online by Legacy, says only that Henry “went home to be with the Lord.”

Additionally, Henry was buried in Houston’s Brookside Memorial Park, and his actual gravesite is accessible via FindAGrave, so it’s not as if there’s a mysterious cover-up surrounding his death.

But, because TLC never offered an official statement on his death (other than dedicating the Season 1 “Where Are They Now” finale to his memory), there’s a fair bit of speculation and gossip across the internet about Henry’s death. Most of it seems to center on the possibility that his heart was too weak to handle the bypass and skin removal surgeries, and that TLC has kept quiet on the matter because of how successful My 600 Lb Life has been for them.

That idea makes for a decent enough conspiracy theory, though it also overlooks the fact that no one else among the dozens of people featured on the show -– some of whom have very serious medical conditions in addition to extreme obesity -– has died. It might also be worth pointing out that Wikipedia’s page for My 600 Lb Life claims that Henry died of an “illness” without saying what the illness was. (And it’s also Wikipedia, so make sure you take that with a grain of salt.)

New episodes of My 600 Lb Life air Wednesday nights on TLC.

- By John / June 14, 2017 at .
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God bless this special man and all his family. Your story touches my heart and your family is in my prayers. Kirk, your Mother and all your family...I wish many blessings. May you rest in peace. Thank you for sharing your story with us all. God bless
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Henry J. Foots
Henry J. Foots
A photo of Henry J. Foots, featured on "My Six Pound Life" (1958 - 2013)
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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Henry James Foots
Henry James Foots
A photo of Henry James Foots on Find A Grave added by "W H" on 11 Jan 2014
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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I didn't know Henry, but he seems to be a good man and I'm so sorry for his loss. He worked so hard, and I saw he had a good heart. God keep him and rest his soul.
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Me and my daughter just finished watching and was shocked to know Big Henry as I called him while watching passed. May GOD bless his soul and comfort his family. It was only an hour show but Henry's light shinned bright. So sad to hear this. Rest on Big Henry...hope you and your dad are fishing.
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I just saw Henrys story tonight and was truly shocked when it said in loving memory at the end of the show He was such a great person with a great heart and personality, I was so happy when he and Kirk got married and wished them a long and happy prosperous life together, I am so sorry to the foot family but he is looking down and taking care of you from above god bless you Gwendolyn Parker
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I felt the same exact way when I first saw the episode about him. I was really touched by Henry's story. The family never did say what he died of. Although I know he was a bus driver who got into a crash just a few months before his death. I recently read that Henry Foots is the only person from the My 600-lb Life show that has passed.
Although Henry died in 2013, he continues to be a real inspiration to people who have seen his story on "My 600 Pound Life" on TLC.
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I just watched this episode yesterday and it's sad that Henry has passed away but he is an inspiration to all my heart goes out to his family to this day I have no idea yet passed years ago but I cried watching him and laugh watching him cuz he was so fun in a good way God bless his family
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Henry Foots' Family Tree & Friends

Marriage

Lycurgus "Kirk" (Walker) Foots

&

Henry James Foots

August 21, 2011
Marriage date
Harris County, Texas United States
Marriage location
Henry's Death
Cause of Separation
May 16, 2013
Henry's death date
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Friendships

Henry's Friends

Friends of Henry Friends can be as close as family. Add Henry's family friends, and his friends from childhood through adulthood.
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14 Followers & Sources

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