In January 1993, she was admitted to Hurley Medical Center, weighing-in at . She suffered from cellulitis due to a bacterial infection, and immunodeficiency. She stayed in the hospital for three months, where she was restricted to a 1200 calorie diet, and while there lost , though most of this was believed to have been fluid. (Severely obese people often suffer from edema, and their weight can fluctuate rapidly as fluid is taken up or released.) Yager suffered from many other obesity-related health problems as well, including breathing difficulty, a dangerously high blood sugar level, and stress on her heart and other organs.