[3][note 1] Obese since childhood, Minnoch normally weighed 800–900 lb (363–408 kilograms; 57–64 stone) during his adult years.

Doctors diagnosed Minnoch with a massive edema, and an endocrinologist estimated his weight to be approximately 1,400 lb (635 kilograms; 100 stone).

His physicians placed him on a 1,200 kcal (5,000 kJ) per day diet where, after around two years in the hospital, he lost over 900 lb (408 kg; 64 st)—the largest documented human weight loss at the time.

[note 2] After leaving the hospital, Minnoch regained much of the weight and died in September 1983, weighing nearly 800 lb (363 kg; 57 st) at his death.

[11] Minnoch's mother was a graduate of Seattle Pacific University and worked as a registered nurse at Providence Hospital and later as a telephone operator.

[10] Minnoch's grandfather, Peter, was born in Scotland and emigrated to Ogden City, Utah, in 1876 with the Latter-Day Saints movement.

[18] British obesity specialist David Haslam contends Minnoch's water retention was a consequence of his severe weight, not the cause of it.

[19] In March 1978, Minnoch weighed 12 times his 110 lb (50 kilograms; 8 stone) wife,[15] breaking the record for the greatest weight disparity between a married couple.

[25] Minnoch was admitted to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle in March 1978, suffering from heart and respiratory failure.

[14]At the hospital, Minnoch was diagnosed with a massive edema, a condition in which the body accumulates excess extracellular fluid.

Schwartz said Minnoch displayed symptoms of Pickwickian syndrome, where insufficient breathing causes one's level of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream to rise.

[16] He hoped to eventually reach a weight of about 210 lb (95 kilograms; 15 stone), stating, "I've waited 37 years to get this chance at a new life".