Determined to help her son, Jacqueline logged onto the Internet and began researching weight loss options for children. She found a program at the University of Illinois at Chicago that was studying gastric banding surgery for teens, and she submitted MacGregor as a candidate.

Before the university would agree to perform the procedure, MacGregor had to go through six months of testing, including psychological analysis.

"They really worked very closely with the children as far as even getting them ready," Jacqueline says. "They work with you with a psychologist, with the regular doctors, nutritionists. … It just gave him a whole head start to how his life was going to be changed."