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HEADLINE: Britain's fattest man: 70st Keith - who can't sit up, wash himself or go to the loo - gives up his 24-egg breakfasts in a last ditch attempt to lose weight

For two years, Britain’s fattest man was bed-bound, unable to sit up, wash himself or even go to the bathroom. Now, a team of surgeons, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and carers have taken on the epic task of trying to save his life. At his biggest, Keith Martin, 43, weighed 70st and had a mega-obese BMI of 155 – the healthy range is 18.5 to 24.9.

He had to be cared for full-time by his sister, Tina, and had not sat up for a year, or been out of his house for a decade. Doctors had given him just two years to live. As Mr Martin took on the enormous job of trying to rebuild his life, he was filmed for a Channel 5 documentary, Saving Britain’s 70-Stone Man, the first part of which will be aired tomorrow evening

He said: ‘Until I saw the film of myself I didn’t realise I was that big – it upset me that I had let myself get that big. ‘But, on the other hand, it helped me realise because I look at that and I think “I’m not going to be like that any more”.’ Mr Martin, who lives with Tina and his other sister, Sharon, who has special needs, started piling on the pounds after his mother’s death when he was a teenager.


He says he blamed himself for her death as she stayed out of hospital to look after him because he was playing truant from school. He said: 'That's why I started eating - when anything upset me I'd eat more.' Eventually, it got to the stage where he Martin was consuming 10,000 calories a day - including a breakfast of 24 fried eggs each day. He had to lie on incontinence bed pads as he was unable to get out of bed to use the bathroom and a team of council funded carers had to visit him twice a day to bathe him and help look after his fragile skin.


His care cost the council £40,000 a year. Mr Martin said: 'I am sick of being like this and of it causing so much trouble. I want to be like everyone else.’ He added: 'It took a while for me to realise what an idiot I was. By then it was almost too late.' His sister and carer, Tina, said: 'He is worried that he is not going to have a future. ‘The doctor says if he doesn’t lose the weight then in two years he could die. That scares him.'


Mr Martin’s huge bulk put his heart under enormous strain and caused his liver to become extremely enlarged. After being faced with the prospect that he did not have long to live, he decided to make drastic changes to his life. With the help of his sister, he cut his calorie intake to a healthy 2,000 a day and started eating more fruit, vegetables and fish. He said: 'I am eating more fish and chicken. If you told me five or ten years ago I would have laughed at you - my idea of a healthy diet was a plate of chips.

‘Now I shudder at the thought of some of the things I used to eat.'

Despite revolutionising his diet, doctors warned Mr Martin he would not be able to lose enough weight to regain his health just by dieting because of his immobility. He was told weight loss surgery was his only hope of survival - but was so unwell that surgeons feared he would die on the table. They told him they would only operate if he lost enough weight to be able to stand up. Mr Martin undertook a strict physiotherapy regime as his muscles were so wasted they would not be able to support his bulk – he only had 50 per cent of the normal amount of muscle in his arms and legs. He said: 'It's either this or dying and I ain't going to die now.

'I want to get a life back - I want to be like everyone else.'


Mr Martin continued to follow his strict diet and stuck religiously to his physiotherapy. As a result, by January 2013 he had lost more than 20st and weighed 49.5st. However, surgeons at London’s Homerton Hospital would not consider him for surgery until he could stand. In June this year, supported by a team of carers and physiotherapists, he tried to stand up for the first time in two years but was devastated to find his muscles were too weak.

He sobbed: 'My legs won’t take the weight - I can’t get myself up.'

Mr Martin feared his chance of surgery had slipped away but his doctors refused to give up on him and he was taken into hospital for a more radical exercise regime. He said: 'I am sort of feeling numb but excited. I am nervous but excited, and stressed. ‘I will either come back a different person or I am not coming back at all. It scares the hell out of me to be honest.'

Two specialist paramedics were required to transport Mr Martin to the hospital where two normal size beds had to be moved to make way for his extra-large one. Due to his extreme size, Mr Martin’s hospital stay, and eventual surgery, cost six times the usual amount – the procedure normally costs the NHS about £8,000 but in Mr Martin’s case, the cost was £50,000. While in hospital, he was put on a 1,000 calorie a day, milk-only diet in an attempt to shrink his enlarged liver. Eventually, in July this year, he managed to stand with the help of a specialist obesity hoist.


By this point, he had also lost 25st - and was given the go ahead for surgery. He said: 'Worst case scenario is that I go down and don’t come back up again.' His surgeon confirmed that there was a serious danger of Mr Martin suffering a heart attack or a stroke during surgery. He also explained that the surgery could have to be abandoned if complications arose. The outcome of Mr Martin’s surgery will be the subject of the second episode of Saving Britain’s 70-Stone Man, next week


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2471491/Saving-Britains-70-Stone-Man-Keith-Masons-ditch-attempt-lose-weight.html#ixzz2iTpSP5jN
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FYI - The source 'The Daily Mail' isn't exactly known for it's integrity and quality journalism...so excuse the cringey delivery!