247kg Woman Rescued From Her Bangkok Apartment

[webfact]

BIG RESCUE

BMA gives new hope to obese, bedridden woman

By Jeerawan Prasomsab

The Nation

Overjoyed that she got to leave her flat for the first time in three years, 40yearold Amnuayporn Thongprapai, who weighs 247 kilograms, said she was confident that doctors a Central General Hospital would help her walk again.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra, who was present while the woman was being helped out of her flat, said the Khan Na Yow district office had contacted the Social Development and Human Security Ministry asking that the woman be given a disability permit so she can be entitled to welfare benefits. The district office also arranged for scholarships for her children Sathaporn, 15, and Sakulsak Charoensap, 14. Sukhumbhand said an initial check on Tuesday revealed that Amnuayporn had two tumours on her right leg, bedsores as well as high blood pressure. Her obesity is caused by a thyroid disorder.

Amnuayporn, who used to do wash clothes and cook for a living, kept gaining weight over the past four to five years until she hit 280kg in 2006.

In order to take her to hospital yesterday, Bangkok City workers put Amnuayporn on a metal plate that could carry a tonne of weight and then transferred it on to a hydraulic lift, which was temporarily installed outside her balcony. Then a small crane was used to transfer her to the ambulance, which took her to the Central General Hospital. The entire operation took an hour to complete, and by 12.45pm Amnuayporn was admitted into the hospital. Initial check up showed she weighed 247kg.

Deputy Bangkok Governor Dr Malinee Sukavrejworakit said doctors would put her through blood tests to see if she had any metabolic disorder, check her hormone levels and see if she has diabetes, bone and joint condition as well as a mental disorder.

The hospital has put a special medical team, chaired by the hospital director and advised by Malinee herself, in charge of the case. The patient will be put through a special 800kilojoule diet as well as exercise.

The treatment should take at least one year and doctors will decide if a bariatric surgery is necessary to restrict the capacity of the patient's stomach, Malinee said.

-- The Nation 2010-08-27

[thaimelody]

good luck to the lady i hope she wins her battle. lets be supportive with this one please

[POAK]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/7951988/forklift-eases-274kg-woman-from-home

Report by - Thanyarat Doksone

A 274-kilogram woman believed to be the heaviest in Thailand has left her apartment for the first time in three years with the help of Bangkok city hall and a forklift.

Neighbours of 40-year-old Umnuayporn Tongprapai contacted the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority when they learned she needed medical attention to remove a tumour in her right leg.

Bangkok's media-savvy governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra summoned camera crews to document the event, which involved engineers, demolition crews, rescue workers, doctors and nurses.

Seated on the floor of her modest third-floor apartment on the outskirts of Bangkok, Umnuayporn told reporters she could only walk a few metres on her own and was confined to her studio apartment where she ran a laundry service with the help of her two adopted sons.

"I've been living in this room and have not gone outside for three years," said Umnuayporn, whose weight is roughly the equivalent of a grand piano. "I can walk a little, just enough that I can go to bathroom. But I have to cling to my son the whole way."

Umnuayporn walked slowly to a trolley aided by her son. She was rolled down the corridor to a nearby empty apartment where workers had torn down an inner wall to allow her entry and demolished a section of the building's facade to take her outside.

As neighbours cheered on the pavement, Umnuayporn smiled and flashed a "V" for victory as she was lowered from the apartment by an elevator constructed outside. A forklift then transferred her to a waiting ambulance that took her to a Bangkok hospital.

"It's very likely that she is the heaviest person in the country," said Pijaya Nagavachara, director of the BMA General Hospital, which weighed her once she was admitted.

Her treatment will involve removing the tumour and reducing her weight, which doctors suspect may be due to thyroid problems, Pijaya said.

Once her medical treatment is finished, Umnuayporn says her dream is to go to the beach.

"I want to go to the sea," she said, with tears in her eyes. "I want to play in the water."

[Lumumba]

good luck to the lady i hope she wins her battle. lets be supportive with this one please

After just 9 days, you now know we are all grumpy old gits. why now and not 2006 for the intervention?

I like the Bkk guv'nor.

[SomTumTiger]

Why is this news...

[hoaker]

Why is this news...

So a couple weeks later the government can ask for donations on channel 3 and 7 nightly news.

[QED]

good luck to the lady i hope she wins her battle. lets be supportive with this one please

Supportive for what? She has obviously got herself in this condition and certainly does not get any sympathy from me. In fact quite the opposite as her selfishness as now turned her into a liability to the public.

[rugbyjacks]

good luck to the lady i hope she wins her battle. lets be supportive with this one please

Supportive for what? She has obviously got herself in this condition and certainly does not get any sympathy from me. In fact quite the opposite as her selfishness as now turned her into a liability to the public.

She could have a thyroid problem, hormone imbalance, diabetes, metabolic problems......?

She could have mental problems, be poorly educated and even not realised just how bad things could get, head in the sand "it can't get any worse" mentality......?

She has got tumours in her legs....

But because she's fat, you believe it's entirely self inflicted and therefore deserves no help or sympathy.

Some of the people who post on here.... I can't believe how callous people can be. Let's just hope nothing bad ever happens to you or your family where you might hope for help and support.....

Did the fact that she has two adopted kids pass you by? She obviously felt that other people deserve her help and support.

[webfact]

insulting posts deleted

Be aware your posting right can be revoked immediately....

[sirchai]

insulting posts deleted

Be aware your posting right can be revoked immediately....

she was confident that doctors a Central General Hospital would help her walk again.....

The sad thing is that only fast food chains enable people to be that heavy. We should have learned from the "American" culture of being fat.. Please watch "Super size me".

Edited August 27, 2010 by sirchai

[elkangorito]

good luck to the lady i hope she wins her battle. lets be supportive with this one please

Supportive for what? She has obviously got herself in this condition and certainly does not get any sympathy from me. In fact quite the opposite as her selfishness as now turned her into a liability to the public.

A quote from the news article:

Her obesity is caused by a thyroid disorder.

[Piengrudee]

get well soon.

[Jingthing]

Good luck to the fat lady. Thyroid disorders are more common than people realize. Probably most cases are undiagnosed, and it can kill you.

[geriatrickid]

Just a minute.

First, the article states;

Her obesity is caused by a thyroid disorder.

Then;

Deputy Bangkok Governor Dr Malinee Sukavrejworakit said doctors would put her through blood tests to see if she had any metabolic disorder, check her hormone levels and see if she has diabetes, bone and joint condition as well as a mental disorder.

It is most likely an eating disorder made worse by people that enabled her obesity by feeding her large quantities of food. It is an easy route to claim a thyroid disorder. However, if it was, the usual end result is death not long term critical morbid obesity. If it is solely a "thyroid" disorder, she will make the medical journals because in almost all of these cases, it is primarily a mental health issue. The other health issues arise because of the obesity.

The sad part, is that this would never have occurred in Thailand 25 years ago.

[bails]

Just a minute.

First, the article states;

Her obesity is caused by a thyroid disorder.

Then;

Deputy Bangkok Governor Dr Malinee Sukavrejworakit said doctors would put her through blood tests to see if she had any metabolic disorder, check her hormone levels and see if she has diabetes, bone and joint condition as well as a mental disorder.

It is most likely an eating disorder made worse by people that enabled her obesity by feeding her large quantities of food. It is an easy route to claim a thyroid disorder. However, if it was, the usual end result is death not long term critical morbid obesity. If it is solely a "thyroid" disorder, she will make the medical journals because in almost all of these cases, it is primarily a mental health issue. The other health issues arise because of the obesity.

The sad part, is that this would never have occurred in Thailand 25 years ago.

Thank you Doctor Geriatric for your expert online diagnosis of a very serious problem <snip>

Edited August 27, 2010 by soundman
Removed flame.

[Travel2003]

good luck to the lady i hope she wins her battle. lets be supportive with this one please

Supportive for what? She has obviously got herself in this condition and certainly does not get any sympathy from me. In fact quite the opposite as her selfishness as now turned her into a liability to the public.

Doesnt matter if she got herself into this one or not.

It has gone so far we should have some sympathy.

Just as we should have some sympathy for drug addics, or other self imposed conditions that has gone out of control.

A person whom need a by-pass heart surgey due to wrong diet over many years, does not deserve to die.

This is one of the very few things that separate us from rest of the animal world.

[Jingthing]

Compassion, folks, compassion! There but for the grace of God it could be you stuck on a bed looking like a whale.

[BSJ]

Most doctors can diagnose the problem most of the time....without to much effort. Considering her weight range would normally be 45kg to 70kg you would think she would be concerned when she hit 90kg or more. A 20 baht hospital visit would have seen the problem sorted long ago. I am not even going to try to explain how dumb I think people can be!

[JohnnyFeelIt]

The sad part, is that this would never have occurred in Thailand 25 years ago.

It probably became possible as soon as Mc Donalds started doing deliverys, the delivery guy who serviced her street must have needed a pickup truck!

[Travel2003]

Most doctors can diagnose the problem most of the time....without to much effort. Considering her weight range would normally be 45kg to 70kg you would think she would be concerned when she hit 90kg or more. A 20 baht hospital visit would have seen the problem sorted long ago. I am not even going to try to explain how dumb I think people can be!

She was dumb?

I pressume you know what happened to her back then.

I also guess you know for a fact she never visited a hospital, or never were aware of the fact she started to get dangerously big?

You probably also know what was going on inside her head.

All this you can explain with the simple word dumb?

I dont believe obesity and dumb is nescesarily always the combination.

[thaimelody]

good luck to the lady i hope she wins her battle. lets be supportive with this one please

Supportive for what? She has obviously got herself in this condition and certainly does not get any sympathy from me. In fact quite the opposite as her selfishness as now turned her into a liability to the public.

She could have a thyroid problem, hormone imbalance, diabetes, metabolic problems......?

She could have mental problems, be poorly educated and even not realised just how bad things could get, head in the sand "it can't get any worse" mentality......?

She has got tumours in her legs....

But because she's fat, you believe it's entirely self inflicted and therefore deserves no help or sympathy.

Some of the people who post on here.... I can't believe how callous people can be. Let's just hope nothing bad ever happens to you or your family where you might hope for help and support.....

Did the fact that she has two adopted kids pass you by? She obviously felt that other people deserve her help and support.

Glad there a few fair minded people in the world

[TAWP]

good luck to the lady i hope she wins her battle. lets be supportive with this one please

Supportive for what? She has obviously got herself in this condition and certainly does not get any sympathy from me. In fact quite the opposite as her selfishness as now turned her into a liability to the public.

A quote from the news article:

Her obesity is caused by a thyroid disorder.

Incorrect, her obesity is caused by her eating too much compared to how much her body is able to efficiently burn.

Her condition is accelerated due to a thyroid disorder.

[ukrules]

Good luck to the fat lady. Thyroid disorders are more common than people realize. Probably most cases are undiagnosed, and it can kill you.

Hypothyroidism is more common than most people realise, of course ignorance is much more prevalent.

I know a guy who was literally starving to death whilst eating normally yet he was getting fatter all the time. His body was storing most of the energy in the form of fat instead of using it.

Everyone told him he should eat less ! Of course he could have died without medical intervention had he done this, once he started on the thyroxine his weight returned to normal and his body could access energy from the food he was eating rather than just store it away as fat and only use a small amount of it. He could also stay awake all day.

So he was ill which made him fatter, eat more and need to sleep all the time.

[jackr]

good luck to the lady i hope she wins her battle. lets be supportive with this one please

And who are you?

Just as we should have some sympathy for drug addics

Even those that steal and kill for their next fix? This poor lady's plight, who clearly has a medical condition, is hardly comparable to some smack-inducing, self-indulging waste of space.

[tartempion]

Supportive for what? She has obviously got herself in this condition and certainly does not get any sympathy from me. In fact quite the opposite as her selfishness as now turned her into a liability to the public.

So you have no clue how this woman got into this condition AND you have zero knowledge on the subject of obesity but you do have an educated opinion about yourself

[JimShortz]

I don't understand why people make negative comments and are mean to fat people.

Oh, now I remember... OMG she is huge! Reminds me of the little 7-11 shop that used to be next to the Porn Ping tower in Chiang Mai; it had a great name - Fat Bird!

[asiawatcher]

Boy this one has opened up a lot of cross fire!

But you can only gain weight by what you directly put in your mouth! There is no such thing as a thyroid problem in Biafra!

Sympathy towards her weakness, disdain in that she would not do anything about it.

I remain neutral on this one but yes, good luck.

[phosphorescent]

It's very annoying when fat people blame their weight on medical problems alone. It's not leafy greens that make them put on weight and maintain it, It's their quick chip eating fingers and lack of exercise. Granted, some people put on weight more easily than others but when it all boils down to it, how many times have you seen footage of a fatty wobbling about Auschwitz or the killing fields saying "it's not my fault, It's me glands!".

[moetownblues]

good luck to the lady i hope she wins her battle. lets be supportive with this one please

Supportive for what? She has obviously got herself in this condition and certainly does not get any sympathy from me. In fact quite the opposite as her selfishness as now turned her into a liability to the public.

She could have a thyroid problem, hormone imbalance, diabetes, metabolic problems......?

She could have mental problems, be poorly educated and even not realised just how bad things could get, head in the sand "it can't get any worse" mentality......?

She has got tumours in her legs....

But because she's fat, you believe it's entirely self inflicted and therefore deserves no help or sympathy.

Some of the people who post on here.... I can't believe how callous people can be. Let's just hope nothing bad ever happens to you or your family where you might hope for help and support.....

Did the fact that she has two adopted kids pass you by? She obviously felt that other people deserve her help and support.

Well said.

[draftvader]

She was rolled down the corridor....

I'm going to burn for laughing at this.