‘You will not see your 35th birthday’: From a life-or-death warning to a half marathon

Saturday, 20 June 2026

Llewellyn Davies recently finished a half-marathon, having completely changed his lifestyle after bariatric surgery.

Llewellyn Davies lost 208kg through bariatric surgery after doctors warned he would might not see his 35th birthday.

The Otago shepherd survived five months consuming only meal replacement drinks and one boiled egg daily before his life-saving weight loss surgery.

At age 7 Davies lost his father and spent time in state care, where fighting for food changed his relationship with eating forever.

Llewellyn Davies knows how precious life is. He was just 7 years old when he lost his dad at 34.

His father’s death was the first step on what Davies describes as a “path of destruction”.

Davies says his upbringing in state care saw him turn to food for comfort. At his heaviest, he weighed almost 300kg.

“I became a violent young man and I ended up getting caught up in the system.”

At 14, he was put up in a boys’ home. It was a battle for survival, he said.

“From that day on, through my tenure in state care, I had to fight to eat, to live, to have somewhere safe to sleep.

“We were starved a lot in the boys’ homes, which forced us to fight a lot. We were fighting for food.

“My relationship with food changed, especially as I became an adult. I started using food to numb pain.”

Davies works as a contract shepherd in Otago. When he was overweight, he said he always felt like he had to prove to prospective employers that he was capable of doing the work.

While food provided him with a sense of comfort, it also made him bigger. At the time, Davies was happy to pile on some extra weight.

“I wanted to be this big, larger than normal guy because I wanted people to respect me. I wanted people to be afraid of me. You see a real big guy and it’s like ‘Ohh, I’ll stay away from him’.”

But by the time he reached his 30s, Davies’ weight had “spiralled out of control” to almost 300kg, and in 2020, Davies wound up in hospital with sepsis, prompting his doctor to deliver a stark warning should he not lose weight.

“‘You will die. You will not see your 35th birthday,’ he said.”

His father’s death at a similar age was front of mind. Davies decided then and there to turn his life around.

“I just had a lot more to give and I wanted to outlive my old man.

A doctor told Davies he wouldn’t survive to see his 35th birthday if he didn’t do something about his weight.

“I just hadn’t reached - and I still haven’t reached - my own potential yet. I just hadn’t had a good nudge at life.”

Cheating death

It was recommended Davies have bariatric surgery to reduce his stomach size (and the amount of food he could eat), as it can be difficult for morbidly obese people to lose weight naturally.

The surgery is the most effective way for morbidly obese people to lose weight, lower their risk of heart disease and cancers and put their type two diabetes into remission.

But preparing for the surgery isn’t a walk in the park, Davies said. In fact, he had attempted the process three times before.

According to Health New Zealand, patients must go on a low-calorie liquid diet for a few weeks beforehand to make their liver smaller and the surgery safer. Research by The University of Auckland found that initial weight-loss requirement was a barrier to surgery for many patients.

Because he was so big, Davies’ surgeon instructed him to consume nothing but meal replacement drinks and one boiled egg per day for five months before the surgery to give it the best possible chance of success. The strict diet helped him lose about 70kg and instilled the healthy habits required for long-term weight management.

Davies did admit to having a last supper a few weeks before surgery: “A scotch fillet, some sausage, ostrich patty and bacon, because I thought I’d probably never be able to eat that again… I’m kinda glad I did that, it closed a little chapter in my life.”

Davies said there was a perception that having weight-loss surgery was “cheating”.

“The only thing we’ve cheated is death. Because for me, death came knocking on the door and I said ‘Not today, mate’.

Running was not something Davies ever consideredwhen he was younger. Now, he can’t get enough of it.

“Ever since making that decision, I’ve always just wanted to live my best life.”

‘From Jabba the Hutt to Tinkerbell’

After the surgery Davies lost a “tremendous” amount of weight.

“I’ve gone from my heaviest being 300kg down to 92kg,” said the Otago-based shepherd, now aged 38.

At the start of 2026, while dealing with some personal heartbreak, Davies made another decision, one that was completely out of character for his former, heavier self.

“For some ridiculous reason, I just started running. Running was never, never in my vocabulary. The most running I did was after sheep… or to the fridge.

“I found running calmed my mind. It made me focus on putting one step in front of the other.”

Finishing the half-marathon at the Wānaka Ultra has inspired Davies to aim for a full marathon (and beyond).

Having shed the equivalent weight of three or four people, Davies said he felt like a “prima ballerina”.

“I just want to run everywhere. When you’ve been like Jabba the Hutt and you become like Tinkerbell, you just want to fly.”

In April, Davies had planned to run the 11.5km race in the Ultra Wānaka, but at the last minute, decided to do the half-marathon (21km).

“I’ve been through way worse than a half-marathon, and I’ve survived it.”

Seeing crowds of strangers cheering him on was also a pivotal moment emotionally.

“My eyes were just crying. It’s such a foreign thing for me to accept that people are genuinely wanting you to win.

“It’s quite a hard concept, I was very overwhelmed.”

Davies completed the even in three hours and 24 minutes and said the photo of him at the finish line with his medal was one that he’d treasure.

However, it would be his first and last half marathon, having now set his mind to completing a full one, or an even longer run.

“I know that I can push myself a lot more.”

For anyone else struggling with their weight or running journey, Davies had a message: “You just got to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It’s not about how fast you go, it’s just about starting and finishing.”