A 26-year-old Frenchman weighing 296 kg who previously travelled to the US and Germany for treatment of morbid obesity, has made a south Mumbai hospital his home for five months to achieve his dream. Safe to say he is making some remarkable progress as he has already lost 60 kg.
Kevin Chenais, of French-Indian descent, was inspired by the world's heaviest woman Eman Ahmed to check into Saifee Hospital under the same medical team led by Dr Muffazal Lakdawala that treated her. Unlike Eman, who could barely speak after suffering a stroke back home, Kevin recounts numerous incidents when he faced discrimination. He was offloaded from airlines, turned away by waterways and the Chunnel train as well as schools and colleges. "It was bad," he told TOI on Monday.
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Eman arrived in a modified cargo plane from Alexandria in Egypt in February 2017, while Kevin came in a special United Nations-endorsed plane on the rainy evening of August 30 last year. His mother Christine, who works for the UN Human Rights Council, petitioned UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein for help in transporting her son to Mumbai; his office helped make arrangements, and the Jordanian Princess Haya bint Hussein provided one of her planes to drop Kevin.
Kevin couldn't walk when checked in for the first time at Saifee. Now, having lost nearly 60 kg, he walks with the help of a walker. "The biggest change has been in attitude," said Dr Lakdawala. "He now smiles, is less melancholic and ready to lose weight," he added. The doctor said he is happiest to use a customized scooter to zoom up and down the hospital's 10th -floor corridor.
"My son has been through so much, he could write an encyclopedia on being morbidly obese," said Christine, adding Kevin has been a "hospital baby." It was apparent at six months of age that Kevin had a health problem. In 2003, they took him, then 12 and weighing 140 kg, to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, US, where he underwent gastric bypass surgery.
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"On my return home, no attention was paid to my surgery. There was no special rehabilitation," he said. His experience in the US, where he returned a decade later, didn't yield much, he added. "I stayed there for 18 months, but was hospitalized for only a week." It was while returning to France that he was offloaded by an airline and turned down by a waterways company and a train service.
When he went to Germany two years ago for treatment of lymphedema (collection of fluid in arms and legs), a doctor suggested he go to India. It took almost two years - and Eman's arrival - for him to reach India.
On Monday, Kevin said he was happy to be in India. Christine added, "My son came to India to seek treatment and find acceptance. He wants friends. He feels people in India smile at him and accept him. He told me I had brought him to his 'country' at last."
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"I watch Hindi films and am learning a few Hindi words as well," said Kevin, who has just finished watching the Baahubali series.
What helped him lose weight? A special diet, daily physiotherapy sessions and counselling have helped, said Dr Lakdawala. The doctor said two saliva swabs sent to US for genetic tests could be conclusive. "A couple of days back, we sent blood samples to the US. We hope to get a report in four weeks," he said. The results should help the medical team either put Kevin on medicines or plan a surgery.
"He has already undergone a surgery 15 years back. It won't be easy to plan a second one now. Moreover, we feel he may need two surgeries," he said.