Mexico City, Oct 31 (EFE).– Andres Moreno of Mexico, considered the most obese man in the world, has set out on the road back to health and at the same time has received some unexpected encouragement from Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who sent him a signed team jersey.

Moreno, 37, underwent surgery this week that will help him lose weight and eventually get back to living a normal life, after weighing in at 435 kilos (958 lbs.) when he started treatment with Dr. Jose Castañeda.

The patient’s joy at the excellent prognosis of the operation has grown with the friendly gesture of the Real Madrid striker, who between soccer matches this week sent the Mexican warm greetings and his signed jersey.

Speaking of the gift, Moreno told EFE that public relations consultant David Espriu called him from Madrid to give him the news and, overcome by emotion, he broke into tears.

“Many thanks to everyone, including Cristiano Ronaldo, for taking an interest in my case. Sometimes you think they are in another world, far from ordinary people but that’s not true – I feel like I’ve been given a wonderful Christmas present before it was time,” he said.

Ronaldo‘s gift came in addition to another considerate thought from the players of Chivas Guadalajara, the most popular club in Mexican soccer, who shot a kind and thoughtful video dedicated to the retired policeman, a native of Ciudad Obregon in northwest Mexico.

“So many people have helped me and continue to help me that I’m going to focus my life, or a good part of it, on helping people like me,” Moreno said, pleased at all the expressions of solidarity coming in from around the world.

If the prognosis of the doctors that operated on him in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara is accurate, in one year Andres Moreno will be down to some 80 kilos (176 lbs.), which means that from the beginning of his treatment with Castañeda he will have lost 355 kilos (782 lbs.). EFE