World's fattest boy who weighed 420lbs loses a SIXTH of his weight

World's fattest boy who weighed 420lbs loses a SIXTH of his weight in a month following life-saving surgery to remove a portion of his stomach after he nearly ate himself to death

An 11-year-old boy weighing 420lbs (190kg) and dubbed to be 'the world's fattest boy' has had life-saving surgery after eating himself to near-death.

Arya Permana, from Karawang in West Java, Indonesia, weighed the same as six boys his own age and struggled to walk more than five minutes at a time.

After years of eating five meals a day, parents Ade and Rokayah Soemantri were convinced that their son had to have drastic surgery or he'd die.

Just a month after undergoing a five-hour gastric sleeve operation, becoming the youngest person in the world to do so, he has already lost nearly 70lbs (31kg) - roughly a sixth of his weight.

Surgeons at the Omni Hospital in Jakarta expect him to lose a further 220lbs (100kg) within 12 months as a result of removing a large portion of his stomach.

Doctors originally had called Arya's condition 'one of the toughest cases of obesity in the world' and if the situation was not controlled it could have proved fatal.

Prior to his surgery, which lessened his appetite - making him feel fuller for longer, he was living on a daily diet of fried chicken, rice, noodles and chocolate ice cream.

This was despite his parents' best attempts at helping him to lose weight by putting him on a crash diet and signing him up to an exercise programme.

But they still continued to feed their son greasy curries and high-cholesterol snacks, such as salted anchovies and hard-boiled eggs.

It was only when their son's health reached a near critical condition that his parents accepted their son needed urgent help.

Mr Soemantri, a 45-year-old who worked as a security guard, said Arya 'had no sense of being full' in a new channel 5 documentary on his son's story.

He added: 'Every time he had two packets of noodles and two eggs. More than half a kilo of chicken and then there was rice. This could be four to six times a day.

'The saddest thing was watching Arya try to get up. He would get out of breath just walking five metres. We were very worried.'

Mrs Soemantri, 35, said: 'I am the one the most to blame. I regret it because it's my fault. I didn't control how much I fed him. I keep feeding Arya because I love my child.'

Dr Handy Wing, who performed the operation, said Arya was at risk of developing heart disease or having a stroke even though he was young.

When did he become so obese?

When he was born, Arya weighed a healthy 8.3lbs (3.7kg) and didn't start gaining weight until he was five.

Gaining a staggering 280lbs (127kg) in just four years, Arya's large size as a nine-year-old started to attract attention.

People would stop and take photos of him and before long local and international media were reporting on the 'heaviest child in the world', his parents said.

After collapsing at a school flag ceremony, he caught the attention of the country's top doctors.

A team of specialists took samples to look for genetic hormonal abnormalities that could have contributed towards this.

A high level of the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) was found in Arya, however it was not enough to explain his morbidly obese state.

WHAT WAS THE OPERATION?

Arya Permana underwent a five-hour gastric sleeve operation at the Omni Hospital in Jakarta last month.

The procedure removed a large portion of his stomach through an incision in his abdomen, making it smaller and banana-shaped.

This is designed to lessen someone's appetite, making the patient feel fuller for much longer.

It appears to have worked almost immediately, as Arya has lost nearly 70lbs (31kg) since the operation.

Surgeons expect him to lose a further 220lbs (100kg) within 12 months if he continues to diet and exercise.

Guidance online says Arya may have endured some stomach pain following the procedure as the cut may be tender and sore.

He also faces the small risk of malnutrition as he gets older, due to some vitamins and minerals being poorly absorbed by a smaller stomach.

Patients can expect to lose more than half of their excess weight after undergoing this procedure, figures suggest.

Doctors decided to closely monitor his intake with diaries but found discrepancies between what the 11-year-old said he ate and his parents' more conservative claims.

'What you're doing is killing him'

Leading weight control specialist Dr Grace Judio, based at the Omni Hospital, then spent two days with the family to get to the bottom of his eating habits.

Drawing up a strict meal plan in an emotional exchange with the parents, Dr Judio explained just how serious the situation was.

She said: 'What you're doing is killing him. You're going to be healthy but he will die.' 

But just a week after trying to adhere to the controlled diet, his parents admitted they were already struggling to ensure their son kept to it.

During an emergency Skype call, Dr Judio told the family of their last resort - surgery.

Struggling to come to terms with the severity of the operation, the parents initially refused before realising her son's near-critical condition.

A long way to go

Arya, who 'wanted to eat all the time', has a long way to go but is already planning what he will do once he loses more weight.

He said: 'I'm going to play with my friends in the pool, play football and ride bicycles.'

Arya's full story is shown on World's Heaviest Child: Extraordinary People, Thursday 1st June at 10pm on Channel 5.

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