Intensive care for 250kg Malaysian man who needed firemen and lorry to get him to hospital

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SIBU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The obese 33-year-old man who needed the help of firemen and a lorry to get him to hospital is in intensive care.

His mother, identified only as Madam Kho, said Mr Sia Chi Herng was able to "speak a bit" on Thursday (Sept 22). Mr Sia, who weighs 250kg, had been warded on Wednesday (Sept 21) with breathing difficulties.

According to the 63-year-old woman, her son started developing a weight problem about two years ago, after suffering the effects of an injury in his right heel that happened at a timber camp. His weight ballooned from 100kg to what it is now, she said.

"He was of normal weight when I gave birth to him, about 3kg," she said.

In 2010, Mr Sia spent two years as a general worker at a timber camp in Miri, before he asked to be posted to another in Kapit.

"One day while in the camp kitchen, the old wooden flooring suddenly gave way and his heel fell through," she said.

"It felt all right but about a month later, he started to have a terrible pain in his heel."

Madam Kho said her son was admitted to hospital and had an operation performed on the injured part. Doctors told him that a vein had been damaged.

After that, he seemed all right and went to work in Bintulu, but after about a month, the pain returned and he was forced to quit his job.

In May 2014, he came home and was in hospital again for the same ailment. He was treated but was confined to his home.

"During this period, his started to grow in size. This worried me but I could not do anything.

"Our relatives advised us to get him to cut down on his food but he ignored us," Madam Kho said, adding that Mr Sia had not been overeating.

"Most times he was having just two meals a day."

Coupled with his ballooning weight, the pain in his heel became unbearable and he had to rely on a quadrupod walking stick given to him by one of his aunts to move around the home.

"His condition worsened over the past four days and he could only crawl on the floor," she said.

"He could not urinate and then had chest pains, followed by breathing difficulties." That's when Mr Sia asked for medical treatment.

Twenty people and a 5-tonne lorry helped him cover the 11km distance to hospital in 1 hour and 40 minutes.

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