While morbid obesity and weight loss journeys are difficult enough, Bettie Jo Elmore had an even more complicated decision to make. In her 2016 "Where Are They Now" episode, the doctors discovered that Bettie Jo had a large mass at the base of her spine (via People). It wasn't cancerous, thank goodness, but Bettie Jo was pregnant — which made things scarily complicated. "The bigger the baby gets, the more he presses on the bone mass on my spine," Bettie Jo explained in the episode. "I'm already a high-risk pregnancy, so a lot of things could go wrong."
Bettie Jo had to choose between removing the mass and possibly losing her unborn baby, or leaving the mass where it was, which would increase her risk of paralysis. She chose to put her baby's life over her own, forgoing the surgery (per Starcasm). Though her doctor assigned her to bed rest for the remainder of her pregnancy, she made it through (apparently husband Josh was still needed after all), and Bettie Jo announced that their son Preston Isaiah was born safely on August 10, 2016.
Going by Bettie Jo's posts on social media, she seems much happier, sharing photos of her husband and child and talking about healthy recipes. She and Josh celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary on March 3, and she watches what she eats. She's overcome so much in her life and deserves all happiness.
