HANOVER COUNTY, Va. — A guest at a weekend meet-and-greet event for Patches, a formerly-42-pound cat, shared how the full-figured feline's weight loss journey kept her motivated to reach her own goals.
Patches is now down to under 20 pounds after his adoption three years ago. Katie Chlan was among the 15 fans who got to meet Patches, who she said has served as a source of inspiration for her along a health journey of her own.
Chlan said she has lost over 100 pounds in a year and a half, reaching a lifelong goal of running her first marathon just weeks ago.
She said his health journey is part of what drew her to following Patches in the first place, and that his weekly weigh-ins have been a reminder that reaching weight goals is a non-linear process.
"Every decision is made for him, and he still sometimes has those weeks where he plateaus or when he gains," Chlan said. "It was really reassuring to me, as I was going through my journey, to realize that even when you do everything right, sometimes there's just bad weeks, but it all at the end averages out."
After training through the winter, Chlan took part in a marathon in Virginia Beach, crossing off a long-held item on her bucket list.
"I always was very specific — I wanted to run a marathon by the time I turned 50. And I'm 50 in August. So I got it, but there's no way I would have been able to do it even 50 pounds ago, let alone 100, 150 pounds ago," she said.
Chlan and others who spoke with CBS 6 at the event said they see posts from Patches' mom, Kay Ford, as a bright light in what can be an otherwise dreary day-to-day.
"All the really hard, bad things going on right now, it's just so nice to have something positive," Chlan said. "There are times when I will have to say, 'Okay, I cannot deal with social media anymore. I'm done.' And I'll just not look for quite a while. But then there's sites like Patches ... that's the good. I will go back to see how his his weigh-in wins, or see how he's how he's doing."
Chlan said she is thankful for the opportunity to meet her inspiration.
"I'm just thankful for this opportunity. I'm thankful I got to meet Patches. I'm thankful to hear others on their health journey, whether it be human or feline," she said. "We're all in it together."
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