A boy dubbed the world’s fattest child has been put on a crash diet to save his life.
Arya Permana weighs 30 stone and, unsurprisingly, is classified as being morbidly obese.
He can’t walk any more and had to quit school as a result of his weight, achieved through a five-meals-a-day eating regime.
His parents have been unable to find clothes that fit and he now wears a sarong all the time, finally getting them to come to the conclusion that he needs to stop eating.
His mother Rokayah Somantri said: ‘He is perpetually hungry and has an enormous diet and can actually eat meals of two adults at one time. He is always tired and complains of shortness of breath. He only eats and sleeps and when he is not done with both, he jumps into the bathtub and stays there for hours.
‘There is no other pain than seeing your own child suffering. My son does not go to school because he cannot walk on his own and needs my round-the-clock assistance.
‘He can only take small steps before he looses balance. I wish to see my son studying and playing with other kids in the neighbourhood.’
His parents initially saw his weight as meaning their son was ‘healthy’. But then it got out of control after putting on weight at an abnormal rate.
Arya, the second son of Rokayah, 35, and her husband Ade Somantri, 45, a farmer, was born at home via natural birth and weighed a normal 7lbs.
But by the time he turned two years old, Arya had gained weight at an abnormal rate for his age. Despite this, his parents said they were not worried initially as they were happy to see their son ‘healthy’.
Roykaya said: ‘We were happy to see him fuller and considered him to be a happy, healthy child.
‘But it was only a few years later when he bloated and his weight went out of control, we realised he was suffering from a disorder and needed medical attention.’
Doctors could not find anything abnormal about his
Rokayah and Ade took Arya to several doctors in their village in Cipurwasari in West Java, Indonesia, but surprisingly, doctors did not find anything abnormal about his alarming weight.
His father, Ade, said: ‘I have insufficient money to buy food to fulfil his large appetite. I borrow money so that he can eat. Of course, I cannot keep him starving.
‘I am exhausted now and I cannot afford expensive hospitals. But I hope to see my son perfectly normal one day.
The helpless parents have now put Arya on a diet of brown rice in the hope of controlling his weight.
‘No mother wants to stop feeding her children but I am unfortunate and helpless. I have started putting him on brown rice diet. I am not sure if it help but this is the only thing I can do to stop him from growing bigger,’ added Rokayah.
metro.co.uk
