Once dubbed 'the fattest man alive,' Paul Mason was once 980 pounds. Since losing nearly two third of his body weight, he's now fighting to have 112 pounds of excess skin removed. Paul Mason once held the dubious honor of being the fattest man alive.
Wheelchair-bound and given just two years to live, the 50 year-old postal worker from Ipswitch, England weighed a staggering 980 pounds. Since undergoing gastric bypass, Mason is now 644 pounds slimmer — yet he has inherited another problem. Over a hundred pounds of sagging, excess skin, according to the Daily Mail. It’s not just a cosmetic issue, Mason told The Sun. It’s keeping him from being active.
“My skin splits. The skin behind my knee tears because of the weight of the excess skin,” he told the Daily Mail.
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Excess skin is a common complaint after weight loss surgery — and it comes with own health risks and side effects.Wheelchair-bound and given just two years to live, the 50 year-old postal worker from Ipswitch, England weighed a staggering 980 pounds. Since undergoing gastric bypass, Mason is now 644 pounds slimmer — yet he has inherited another problem. Over a hundred pounds of sagging, excess skin, according to the Daily Mail. It’s not just a cosmetic issue, Mason told The Sun. It’s keeping him from being active.
“My skin splits. The skin behind my knee tears because of the weight of the excess skin,” he told the Daily Mail.
The Sun reported that at the height of his weight problem, he needed two caretakers to help keep him clean, apply anti-chafing cream and to change his diapers. Dr. Jeff Kenkel, a professor of plastic surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas told ABC News that those hanging folds of flesh can trap sweat and dirt, leading to rashes and fungal infections.
"That much skin would affect his joints and his balance,” he said. “If the apron of skin around his abdomen hangs below his knees, it would get in the way." Skin-splitting is also likely to occur, Kenkel said.
England’s National Health Service picked up the tab for Mason’s weight loss surgery but won’t sign off on paying of the removal of his excess skin until he proves that he can keep the weight off for two years. Paul Mason had to quit his job as a postal worker when his legs could no longer support his weight. Mason told The Sun that the excess skin is hampering his mobility and that receiving the surgery sooner would allow him to continue to lose more weight.
"I am doing my part in getting my weight down and they now need to do their part and remove the excess skin," he said. "It is stopping me from being able to get on with my life."
"That much skin would affect his joints and his balance,” he said. “If the apron of skin around his abdomen hangs below his knees, it would get in the way." Skin-splitting is also likely to occur, Kenkel said.
England’s National Health Service picked up the tab for Mason’s weight loss surgery but won’t sign off on paying of the removal of his excess skin until he proves that he can keep the weight off for two years. Paul Mason had to quit his job as a postal worker when his legs could no longer support his weight. Mason told The Sun that the excess skin is hampering his mobility and that receiving the surgery sooner would allow him to continue to lose more weight.
"I am doing my part in getting my weight down and they now need to do their part and remove the excess skin," he said. "It is stopping me from being able to get on with my life."
“Once I get rid of the spare skin I also hope to be able to go swimming and cycling and join a gym — and find a girlfriend." This is only the latest chapter in Mason’s tabloid-ready story of gluttony gone berserk.
When he needed a hernia operation In 2002, he had to be removed from his home with a fork lift in order to get him into an ambulance. Since then he has shared his battle with the bulge with world, saying his reliance on food for comfort began in his mid 20s, when his true love broke his heart in 1986. Around the same time, other personal tragedies occurred.
“My dad died and my mum’s health deteriorated. Her hip crumbled and she was in a wheelchair. I became her full-time carer,” he told The Sun. “I couldn’t cope but couldn’t admit it.” Tough times solidified his desire to eat his way into an early grave.
He had to quit his job as a postal worker when his legs could no longer support his weight. Then, after being transferred to a position where he sorted mail, of the he was busted for stealing money to pay for his food addiction. By 2000, he was unable to walk on his own and was confined to wheelchair. Doctors believe he was consuming approximately 20,000 calories a day.
At the height of his weight, he confirmed that breakfast would include an entire package of bacon, four sausages and four eggs. He ate multiple portions of fish and chips and greasy kebabs for lunch. Dinners were comprised of multiple portions of pizza, Indian takeout and endless bags of potato chips.
Mason told British tabloids that his enormous girth prevented him from taking care of his own person hygiene. The Sun reported that at the height of his weight problem, he needed two caretakers to help keep him clean, apply anti-chafing cream and to change his diapers. Not everyone has been supportive of Mason’s struggle. He said that after people found out that his yearly needs cost taxpayers $162,530, he has received death threats. Mason says he wants to become the poster child for obesity awarness to warn others of the dangers of relying overeating.
“Food has taken my mobility away. And I’ve done it all to myself,” he said. “Now I want to travel toevery school in Britain with a cardboard cut-out of me at my heaviest.”
Mason’s story will be airing on British television on Saturday on a special called “Paul Mason: The World’s Fattest Man.”
article source: Daily News
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