GAINESVILLE - as the obesity epidimic touches our children and our country's adults, one local woman decided it was time for a change -a 178 pound change - and now she's encouraging others to get moving with the help of a new foundation.

Renda Springs was over three hundred pounds and having serious heart problems a year and a half ago.

Her doctor told her she had to lose weight - and she went from a size 26 to a size 6 with the help of gastric by-pass surgery.

It was a surgery she needed and couldn't afford until the Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America gave her a grant.

She was only the second person in Florida to get the grant, and one of the first five in the nation the foundation has supported.

Springs says overcoming what may seem to be a huge hurdle can be done with just a little will power - "If you had seen me a year and a couple of months ago, you'd of said there's no hope for her. She's just going to sit on a couch and watch life go by. But I want to tell you that you can do it!"

Springs is planning to run the Disney marathon in November and January to help raise money for the Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America.

For more information on the foundation, please visit here.