How Did 'My 600-lb Life's' Sean Milliken Die? New Details About His Sudden Passing
Sean Milliken who appeared on the TLC series "My 600-Lb. Life" has passed away
Instagram Sean Milliken, who appeared on the TLC reality drama My 600-lb Life, has died at age 29. The TLC star was admitted into the hospital on Sunday, Feb. 17 according to his father, Matt Milliken’s Facebook post.
The heartbroken father described his son as a “good man” with a “good heart.” Sean was living in Texas in an apartment by himself prior to his death. He was on the reality show weight 900lbs at his heaviest. His weight made him the heaviest person to be featured on My 600-lb Life, according to online reports.
So how did Sean Milliken die? Here's what we know about Sean Milliken's early passing.
1. He struggled with his weight.
Sean struggled with his weight since he was a child. Tragically, it was a debilitating leg injury that he got as a senior in high school that resulted in him being bedridden. He never recovered, and his weight shot up to 400lbs.
He had said his weight spiraled out of control after his parents divorced. He turned to food for comfort.
2. He was over 700 lbs.
When he first appeared on season four of My 600-lb Life, he was bedridden and weighed more than 700 pounds.
Sean appeared on the March 16, 2016, episode of My 600lb Life where he opened his home in Cameron Park, California to viewers to catch a glimpse of his reality.
“Every day I wake up I have to face the reality of what my life has become. I am so big now; I can hardly move,” he said on the show’s season four, episode 12. “All I can do on my own is skooch to the end of my bed, go to the bathroom and see if my mom is awake.”
3. He couldn't stand up.
At that time, he wasn’t able to stand for more than 30 seconds. During the episode, he would use a bar hanging from his ceiling to sit up before wiggling down to the end of the bed, where he would crouch to urinate in a blue bucket because it was too painful to stand. According to TLC’s show description, Sean had a was “over 700-lbs with a massive growth protruding from his side and skin so stretched it is tearing apart.”
“I can get up, but I can only walk a few steps, so I just stay here in this bed no matter what,” he explained. “I can't do anything for myself anymore.”
His mother Renee described how her son had to be “taken care of from head to toe”.
“Sean has gotten so big, I can't handle cleaning him on my own anymore, and it is really important that he stays clean because he gets open sores really easily,” Renee explained. “When you are very, very fat, your body goes this way but the fat goes another way, and so what happens is you start getting tears in your skin from that.”
4. He was an emotional eater.
During that episode, Sean also explained that he began to overeat as a child as a way to cope with a difficult relationship with his father.
“It was scary. So I would eat. And suddenly I felt a lot better,” Sean said. “In that moment, nothing else mattered.”
Sean's parents divorced when he was 10, and he was already past 150 lbs.
“I realized it wasn’t healthy for Sean to stay around his father,” Renee said. “But the divorce really had a hard effect on Sean, it really bothered him.”
Renee would use food to make Sean feel better about his father.
“I probably overcompensated in a lot of ways,” she said. “I couldn’t go to the store without bringing him home a treat I have an eating disorder myself. And it’s hard to fix in someone else what’s wrong with you.”
5. He wanted to get surgery.
Sean knew he couldn't live past 30 if he remained that size.
“I am a prisoner,” he said. “All I want is out, and I never really thought my life would end up like this.”
Following his time on the show, Sean moved to Houston in hopes to qualify for weight loss surgery.
“I’m not 100 percent certain this is the right decision to make,” he said on the show at the time. “I am extremely nervous about this trip. It’s going to take anywhere from 30 to 40 hours to drive there. I’m very worried about that. If I fall, we won’t be near the hospital for people to pick me up.”
While Sean was nervous about the potential operation, Sean’s mom felt it was the right thing for him to do.
“He needs to experience life,” she said. “That’s what I hope comes out of all this.”
After working with Dr. Nowzaradan, Sean was able to lose 400 pounds. Radar Online reports that prior to his death, he was living alone in an apartment in Texas. It’s unknown if he ever underwent the weight loss procedure.
6. His mother passed away.
In a follow-up episode My 600-lb Life: Where Are They Now? that aired in the summer of 2018, Sean revealed that his mother had died in 2017 and that he was struggling to cope with the loss.
“A couple of months ago my mom went to the hospital because she wasn’t feeling well, and she just kept getting worse,” He said in the episode. “They said she had renal failure, and she didn’t make it. She passed away a couple weeks ago and I’m devastated, and I don’t know what to do now because my mom was everything to me.”
He also said his mother took care of him and he depended on her for everything.
“I’ve made a lot progress the past few months, I’m still not able to get around too long.” Since he can’t work, he also couldn't pay for the apartment and needed to move out.
7. Sean passed away from an infection.
Sean passed away due to complications of an infection, according to his father.
“Sean was admitted into the hospital a couple days prior, because of an infection,” his father Matt Milliken shared on Facebook. “Sunday he was having problems with his breathing, they were able to resuscitate him and a short time later his heart stopped.”
8. TLC shared sympathies.
When TLC heard the news of Milliken’s passing, the network shared their condolences on social media.
“TLC is saddened to share that Sean Milliken has passed away. Viewers first met Sean in 2016 on My 600-lb Life when he weighed over 900-lbs. Over the course of his weight loss journey, he victoriously lost over 400-lbs. TLC viewers caught up with Sean this past summer and learned that despite the loss of his mother, he was still continuing in his quest to live a healthier and happier life.”
“TLC expresses its deepest sympathies to Sean’s friends and family at this difficult time,” the network added.
Maria Lianos-Carbone is author of "Oh Baby! A Mom's Self-Care Survival Guide for the First Year" and publisher of amotherworld.com.
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