By: Boya Hu

James Webb, who is an Australian man, entered Nathen’s Hotdog Eating Contest at Coney Island this year and won third place. When he was younger, Webb suffered from childhood obesity. He now only has 10 percent body fat and weighs 91 kilograms because he works out regularly.

Webb has competed in many food competitions. The earliest match that he competed in was a success. He ate 38 pancakes in one hour and actually broke the Australian record in Brisbane! A few weeks later he competed in Melbourne, again breaking the record in eating sausage sizzle sandwiches. This time he ate 17 sausage sizzle sandwiches in three minutes! Sometime later he competed in Toowoomba to eat a 3.5kilogram doughnut in under 20 minutes.

Webb had just achieved overcoming childhood obesity to be able to play semi-professional soccer, before a major disorder put him into the medical center for 1 year and 6 months. He suffered from Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), which is an auto-immune disorder which he had when he was 27, according to Kids News. The GBS can cause paralysis, which means that you that you can’t move your body at all. This super eater had to quit his job since he had got an illness and took 18 months to recover.

Webb had to use a breathing apparatus because he could not breathe. He was miserable when the doctors told him that he would never be able to walk again. “Basically, I went to sleep one night a professional soccer player and woke up paralyzed,” Webb said. After a new form of eye surgery and treatment, he regained his sight and learned how to breathe and walk without a ventilator. He was a man with many disabilities, but none have stopped him from doing what he always wanted. It is a surprise that he is strong and winning many eating competitions when you think of the fact that he suffered from childhood obesity and GBS disorder when he was younger.