The world’s largest teenager weighing a staggering 237kgs is ecstatic he’s started to lose weight after becoming one of the youngest in the world to receive a gastric bypass in India.
Mihir Jain, 14, lived on a diet of fried food and fizzy drinks but he’s now euphoric since he’s already dropped to 172kg, two months after receiving a gastric bypass at Max Hospital, in Delhi, India.
The Marvel comics fan says he’s thankful he’s now able to breath properly and finally able to walk unaided.
‘I feel wonderful,’ he said. ‘I used to get very angry and I was aggressive all the time, I had many problems. And anger was there a lot but much less now. I couldn’t do normal every day things. But I used to say to myself: don’t worry, you’ll do it some day. I used to tell myself to stay calm down, you’ll get there some day. I have reached that some day.’
Mihir weighed a normal 5lbs 5oz when he was born in November, 2003. But by the time he reached his fifth birthday he had already grown to a whopping 80kg (12st 5lbs).
His mother, Puja Jain, 35, from Delhi, said: ‘We first realised he had a problem when he was five and the doctor told us he was obese and needed surgery. But he was too young so he gave him some medicine. But that medicine had side affects, and those side affects meant he lost energy and he became weak on his legs. As the years passed he just used to sit in his bed all day, eating. So he just kept gaining and gaining weight.’
Even though Puja admits Mihir was always addicted to fried food she believes the medicine he was on made him even more bed-bound than usual and made him gain even more weight.
He dropped out of school and was home-tutored. While his younger sister Nandani, 13, carried on with life, Mihir lost touch with all his friends. His typical vegetarian high-carbohydrate diet was full fat milk, fried potato and vegetable cutlets, rice and vegetable curry, lots of potato, ice cream, milky coffee and fizzy drinks.
Every child wants to go here and there and spend time with friends, he was sitting in one place all the time so he was very frustrated and angry.
Puja said: ‘He was very angry sitting in one place all the time. Every child wants to go here and there and spend time with friends, he was sitting in one place all the time so he was very frustrated and angry. It was hard for me watching other children playing outside and going to school and my child was not. I had one child going out and one not, it made me feel very sad and useless.’
Eventually, in 2013, Puja and her husband Rajesh, 37, went to see Dr Pradeep Chowbey, at Max Hospital, in Delhi, after her sister had bariatric surgery and it was a succees.
‘I finally went to see the doctor in 2013 but Mihir was so big he couldn’t walk properly so I had to go without him. The doctor said he needed to see him but we couldn’t get Mihir out the house at the time,’ she added.
Finally, five years later, Mihir made it to see Dr Chowbey in December 2017 by the time he had reached an astounding 237kgs, suffered with diabetes, breathing issues and high blood pressure.
The doctor assured Mihir he could help but he had to lose a little weight on his own first. Mihir was put on a high protein diet for three months and in April this year he had dropped to 197kg.
Mihir said: ‘I was determined to do what the doctor suggested. And when I lost weight on my own it gave me the determination to keep going. I wasn’t even scared about surgery, I just wanted to do what was needed to get better.’
Dr Chowbey and his team performed a gastric bypass on Mihir on April 4, 2018, possibly the youngest person in the world to have such an operation.
Mihir was admitted in hospital for four days to get used to a liquid based diet before he was discharged and sent home.
Over the last two months he’s been eating soups, juice and soft food, and slowly he’s started walking more.
He’s already down to 172kgs and he’s looking forward to the day he’s a ‘normal weight’ and can return to school.
He’s already down to 172kgs
Mihir, who loves to play on his Play Station 4 and watch Netflix, said: ‘This was a chance for me. I was excited about what will happen. Each step has been successful, first the diet got results, then the surgery, and I’m now very excited about the what next. Things have gone very well so far.’
