MAKE THAT CHANGE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 59
with his nutritionist and closely followed her meal plan while walking laps through his neighborhood each day.
He lost 33 pounds during the first eight days and was taken off his blood pressure medication within three weeks. The cholesterol meds were next to go two months later.
But besides the numbers declining on the scale, Jacksic’ s true moments of validation have come from surprising occurrences, like trying on the shirt and coat that he wore at his police academy graduation in 1994 when he was 28 years old and being able to button it without a problem. Or sitting in the driver’ s seat without his stomach hitting the steering wheel. Or borrowing his partner’ s motorcycle jacket while responding to a detail and fitting into the XL, even though he used to be an XXXXL.
And then, of course, there are the stares, smiles and nods that he gets when walking into a room and seeing people who only knew the old Jacksic, before he lost the 134 pounds and reached his goal weight.
“ It’ s nice knowing that the weight’ s gone,” Jacksic states.“ The focus now is for a heathy, prolonged life. My biggest regret in this whole thing is that I didn’ t do it sooner.”
Now, seven months post-surgery, when Jacksic responds to traffic details and is able to easily hop off his motorcycle and climb the hills of West Orange by foot without a problem, he thinks about how thankful he is for the friends and medical professionals like Nusbaum, who helped him make the change that he so badly needed. His greatest hope is that he can become that resource for others to let them know they don’ t have to struggle anymore.
“ Dr. Nusbaum is impeccable, and his staff is top notch,” Jacksic stresses.“ As officers, our job is often our life, and this has been a life-changer.” d
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60 NEW JERSEY COPS ■ FEBRUARY 2018