Ayra is a 10-year-old Indonesian boy who decided to eat instant noodles and drink Coca-Cola. As a result, he managed to reach 30 stone (190 kg, almost 420 pounds). According to his mother Rokayah and father Ade, their son ate five meals of rice, noodles, and meat every day and that was still not enough for him because he complained of being hungry. The doctors recommended a wealthy died, but Ayra has been losing weight too slowly, so he had to go to surgery in order to reduce his stomach.
During a couple of months before the operation scheduled on April 17, Ayra lost 20 lbs, but after that, he lost 37 lbs in two weeks. However, ever since then, he has shed only 6 lbs. Before the operation, Ayra ate five packets of instant noodles, and he drank liters and liters of cola. In addition, he ate five meals which had rice, fish, beef, vegetable soup and tempeh (a soy patty).
He got so obese that he could barely stand up or walk around the house. Ayra even missed school because walking all the way to it was an impossible job for him and instead of getting the education he would stay in the house and bathed in a small pool. He even cannot find the fitting clothes, so you can often see him walking around naked with a sarong around his waist, and although he still tries to overeat, that became impossible because of the operation, so he would often vomit.
His mother said: “We were worried about his weight. He was put on a healthy diet and living a healthy lifestyle. No more colas or noodles or rice. However, his weight was not dropping. We had to think of the surgery. He has now lost 20 kilos. We are happy and relieved but he is still overweight for his age. We are hoping that one day he will lose all the extra weight and be as healthy as other children at his class.”
According to Dr. Handy Wing who performed the surgery, he and his team took two hours in order to complete a sleeve-type gastrectomy which reduces your stomach to only 15% of its original weight. Because of that, Ayra will not be hungry all the time, and this should help him stop overeating. His mom said: “He drinks milk and eats just one portion at a time unlike before when he could easily eat meals meant for three adults.”
The bariatric surgery is recommended for people older than 18 who have their body mass index larger than 35. Ayra’s body mass index was 80, and this is what Dr. Handy said: “In certain cases, such as Arya, his body mass index was 80 and he required a special handler to improve the quality of his life better. If he was not immediately given the right medical treatment, Arya could have been exposed to the above complications, worse, even death.”
Doctors are monitoring his progress.
