An Egyptian national believed to be the world’s heaviest woman has successfully left an Indian hospital over 700 pounds lighter.
Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, who once weighed 1,102 pounds, had laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy surgery in March at Saifee Hospital in Mumabi. She now weighs 389 pounds.
According to a statement by the Save Eman Cause, Ahmed’s successful surgery is a “proud moment” in medical history.
Ahmed has been moved to another hospital in the United Arab Emirates for further physiotherapy and rehabilitation.
Battled with obesity for years
In an interview with CNN in 2016, Ahmed’s younger sister, Shaimaa Ahmed, told the site her sister had been battling with her illness for over 36 years.
“Eman didn’t live life as everyone does,” she said.
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Her family added in 2016, Ahmed barely left her bedroom in over two decades, and she wasn’t able to move or communicate because of a stroke.
She had also suffered from thyroid problems since she was a child, which made it difficult for her to walk.
“She has always had hope that she would lose weight and get better,” Shaimaa said.
Getting help
When Ahmed’s story first made international news, Mumbai-based surgeon Dr. Muffazal Lakdawala set up a fundraiser to fly the patient to India.
In February, Lakdawala told My Medical Mantra he wanted to help the then 36 year old live her life again.
But he also knew it wouldn’t be an easy task.
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He added Ahmed has diabetes, asthma, hypertension, sleep apnea and a blocked artery.
Other risky surgeries
Once know as the “world’s heaviest man,” Paul Mason of Ipswich, England went through an eight-hour surgery in September 2016 to remove 10 pounds of excess skin off his body, the BBC reports. He had weighed 970 pounds at his heaviest.
Mason had also undergone gastric by-pass surgery in 2010 initially, and lost 628 pounds.
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According to Guinness World Records, the heaviest living woman (since measured in 2012) is Pauline Potter of California, who weighed 643 pounds. However, in the same year, Potter said she lost almost 100 pounds through “marathon sex,” NY Daily News reports.
How Ahmed is doing now
Deepak Sawant, health minister of India’s Maharashtra state, told India Today that doctors did a “great job” and Ahmed is feeling better post-surgery and move.
“When she was brought here, she was not even able to pass through the CT scan machine. She recently underwent a CT scan, which means that she has lost a lot of weight. And that is because of tremendous efforts of the doctors,” he said.
Before her surgery, Ahmed had come to the Mumbai-based hospital in a cargo plane, but will now be able to travel on a passenger flight to her next appointment.
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