Volunteer firefighter pursues childhood dream after weight loss

Everyone called him “Big Dave” in high school.

At 620 pounds, David Smith, now a junior at IU, said he didn’t mind the nickname.

“It was more of a term of endearment,” Smith said.

The 6-foot-10 high school football player, whose childhood passion for firetrucks never died, grew up with a weight problem.

“I had to worry about little things most people never think about,” he said. “When I sat down I was concerned about whether or not the chair would hold my weight. When I got into cars I wasn’t sure about whether or not I would fit.”

Smith said he went through high school managing his weight with ease. Not happy, not sad, he said he thought, “It was who I was. I was supposed to be big.”

One day at school, three weeks before graduation, Smith recalled having a terrible stomach pain.

“It was so bad that I had to leave school and go home,” he said.

The next three weeks were spent in and out of the hospital.

“I was diagnosed with gangrenous appendicitis, and coupled with my weight there was a risk of a very severe infection,” he said. “At that point the doctor came in and told me that if I didn’t lose weight I wouldn’t live a full life.”

Smith returned to high school on the last day of the school year, graduated and made a commitment to lose the weight he’d grown up with.

Today, Smith weighs 279 pounds, 341 pounds lighter than during his high school football days three years ago. A full-time student studying safety in the School of Public Health, Smith is a volunteer firefighter and EMT for two fire stations in Bloomington Township as well as a risk manager for the Student Recreational Sports Center.

If he hadn’t lost the weight, Smith would have never been able to become a volunteer firefighter, he said.  

After taking a CPR and first aid class Smith was able to pursue his childhood dream of working in firetrucks.

“Lots of people take the class because it is a requirement for athletic training, and then they never do anything with it,” Smith said. “I knew that I wanted to be out there, helping people and using the knowledge.”

“I would never have imagined the Dave I knew in high school to be the guy he is today. I remember watching him play for the football team in high school and how physically straining a short period of playtime was for him,” said Lindsey Wilbur, a high school friend and current IU senior. “To go from that to an activity level greater than the majority of people I know is a total turn around.”

Although rapid weight loss can be medically assisted, Smith takes pride in the way he lost the weight.

“I lost all the weight naturally,” Smith said. “No meds, just diet control and exercise.”

When Smith was growing up, he travelled with his family to watch his siblings at sporting events around the state.

“We grew up travelling, and during that time on the road, I saw about seven or eight bad collisions,” he said. “That is the kind of thing that stays with a nine-year-old. That, coupled with living next to a fire station, made me realize what I wanted to do. I could just never do it before I lost the weight.”

Smith, now leading the full life the doctor promised, stays busy with his studies and three jobs.

“I am not a life saver. I don’t like that term,” Smith said. “So much of my job is sitting in the back of the ambulance holding the hand of the old lady who has had a stroke. Doctors save lives. I just take people from one place to the next as do so many other volunteer student EMTs.”

Despite the rapid weight loss, Smith does not feel as though his transformation is what he calls a Biggest Loser moment.

“Of course the weight loss is inspiring, but that’s just a small part of the transformation. What’s more important is what it has allowed him to accomplish since,” Wilbur said. “He will be doing a job that would have literally been impossible for him to do if he hadn’t lost weight. It’s opened up all kinds of opportunities for him."

Smith hopes that in telling his story he might inspire others who are trying to lose weight to reaffirm their journey.

“If I could, I would tell others who are struggling with weight loss that it is all about a routine,” Smith said. “The more weight you lose, the easier it gets. You become addicted to exercise.”