JOIN US"I have seen and heard sniggers and nasty things. Now I hope it will be a thing of the past," 35-year-old Smith said as he radiated an ear to ear smile.
Smith flew down to India to undergo 'Sleeve Gastrectomy' procedure at a hospital here last week becoming the "heaviest patient operated in Asia".
Turned away by many UK hospitals which expressed their inability to perform the surgery as Smith had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 80, putting him in high risk category, he decided to contact Laparo Obese centre at Ruby Hall clinic here and planned the operation.
"Smith was a classic case of super obese patients who end up showing co-morbid conditions in early age due to morbid obesity. He used to suffer from heaviness in abdomen, severe backache, hypertension, sleep apnoea and walking problems," Dr Shashank Shah, who performed the surgery, said.
"I am extremely happy that walking was made possible for the heaviest person getting operated in Asia. His recovery is also very fast as we have already seen a weight reduction of 8 kg in just two days after the procedure," Shah, who is also secretary of Obesity Surgery Society of India (OSSI), said.
Smith is expected to lose 180 kg within two years."As a child I was very cheerful, friendly and happy-go-lucky kind of a person. But in a span of last ten years my life had been disastrous as I was an unhappy, mentally disturbed person who had stopped socialising (due to obesity)," Smith said.
"Once you get labelled, you are labelled and therefore I started staying within the comfort of my family. I was unable to get insurance due to my weight problem and the biggest nightmare I experienced was to resist shopping at places where there was food all around."
The surgeon said the procedure followed in Smith's case involved removal of curvature of the stomach to arrest secretion of hormone "Ghrelin" to reduce food craving and stimulates pancreas in an anti-obesity action.
"He is expected to lose 180 kg within a period of two years," he added.