This 10-year-old boy made international news headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Weighing 423 pounds Arya Permana was considered one of the heaviest children in the world.
His weight meant he was confined to the bed of his home in West Java, Indonesia, unable to attend school.
But in 2017 the young boy underwent gastric bypass surgery and after following a strict diet of healthy food coupled with lots of exercise, he shed an incredible 200 pounds.
You won’t believe what Arya looks like now.
Arya led a miserable existence weighing over 400 pounds. Confined to his bedroom and isolated from his friends; his only relief was sitting in a small pool to cool himself down.
Arya Permana, who weighs 30st 3lbs, is being put on an extreme diet as his parents try desperately to save him
Posted by Jams App on Thursday, June 30, 2016
As Arya’s health continued to decline his family put him on an emergency diet of brown rice.
But life-saving help came in 2017 when doctors performed gastric bypass surgery which results in a smaller stomach so the patient feels full on less food.
Life-saving surgery
He’d already made headlines for being the heaviest boy on record, declared by the Indonesian version of Guinness World Records, the Indonesian World Records Museum.
Arya then became the youngest person to have a gastric sleeve operation.
The five-hour procedure meant his appetite was reduced and he lost nearly 50 percent of his body weight in a year.
Arya’s weight loss has motivated him to change his lifestyle completely and he now eats better and exercises regularly.
In 2018 Arya told ABC news, Australia, “They made my stomach smaller, I lost my appetite, now even six spoons [of food] already makes me full.”
“They prevent me from consuming sweet food and drinks, particularly soft drinks.
“I can play soccer, tennis, badminton, and most importantly, I can go to school every day,” he said
Watch Arya try on one of his old T-shirts in the clip below. Such an amazing transformation.
[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3ZmmPWlSCg” /]
It’s so wonderful to see Arya living a normal life, it just goes to show what can be achieved if we just seek the right help.
Please share this story to help inspire others.
