At 6-foot-1 and 375 pounds, Clay Chandler was an active lieutenant who was being heralded by Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler as someone who might one day fill his shoes.

Although he had never failed a physical examination, it was recommended that Chandler consider weight-loss surgery, a procedure that he was told was less risky than continuing to live in his physical state.

But now brain damaged and confined to a wheelchair, Chandler broke down in tears Monday as he faced the media after a jury awarded him and his family approximately $178 million in medical negligence and fraud damages at the hands of Memorial Hospital Jacksonville.

And with that, the words of his attorney, Tom Edwards, became clearly evident.

“The tragic thing is that he understands what he was before and what he is now,” he said.