She set a world record: the fattest woman alive with the highest recorded BMI. Pulling the scales at over one thousand pounds or 500 kilograms, Iman Ahmad Abdel Ati lived a life deprived of joy and happiness. So, what has become of this woman who first appeared on the radar in 2016?
“You weigh in at half a ton. We cannot exactly measure your weight, but it seems that your body index is 251.1.” This was the news Iman had to process when she was admitted to the hospital at 36.
After a life of struggles no one would have known about this record-breaking woman if it wasn’t for the compassionate cry outs of her sister, Shaima Selim, who had no choice but to go public with the family’s problem. She was desperately trying to find help for her sister, as her aging mother could no longer function under the strain of taking care of her. Shaima had become the main caretaker of her obese and bedridden sister, but the role was taking a huge toll on her too.
This Egyptian girl was born in Alexandria on 9 September 1980 and lived in this Mediterranean Port City all her life. Her mom claimed that she already weighed 5 kilograms or 11 pounds at birth. Most parents would have been happy to see their baby picking up weight, but with Iman, there was something drastically wrong. The girl started ballooning up very quickly. The family did not have access to proper medical care; staff at a local clinic thought that the girl might have suffered a stroke. But later on, doctors said that her weight gain must have been due to a defective thyroid. That was also a third possible diagnosis to take into consideration. Some doctors said that she suffered from elephantiasis, but later recanted and said that it was only obesity-related lymphedema that caused the gigantic swelling of her legs.
Iman never had the privilege of going to school. She also never had any friends. People did not know how to interact with her, and she was constantly ridiculed because of her size. Even as a young girl, she struggled to walk properly. She ended up crawling around the house until the age of 11 when she presumably suffered a stroke. From that moment on, life simply took a bad turn after the other for her. It might have been a source of comfort if Iman’s father had lived longer to support the family. Unfortunately, he died when she was still very little, and life became a daily struggle to keep everything together. The family settled for a basic existence, being thankful when they just had a roof over their heads and something to eat for the day.
Fast forward to the day when Iman turned 36 years old. She had already lived much longer than many had expected. Sadly, she had not left her house for the past 25 years due to her massive size and the immobility caused by the stroke. She had no quality of life as her days consisted of lying in bed and eating. Then her sister had to help clean her because there was simply no way Iman could move on her own. Her body was ridden with bedsores, and she was always in constant pain.
Iman was a short woman at 4 feet 7 and a half inches or 141 centimeters, but she had a big personality. She did her best to remain positive, but most days it felt like all hope was lost. Many days she thought that it would be easier to just die. There was very little to look forward to each day. She was confined to her house, and the outside world was a distant memory. The only thing that she knew was that her mother and sister still loved and cared for her. Shaima had done all she could but eventually decided to get outside help and resorted to running a public campaign to get the public behind her. It was only then that an Indian surgeon lined up his contacts to organize a chartered plane to take Iman to Mumbai.
It took months to set up a team of medical experts and for this team to come up with a strategy that might give Iman a chance at life. She was more than morbidly obese, and it was clear that her body had suffered under the strain of the excess weight. But finally, someone was willing to help. Staff had to Mumbai, Maharashtra, India’s Saifee Hospital, were finally geared to try and save Iman’s life. The medical team consisted of an endocrinologist, a chest physician, a cardiologist, a cardiac surgeon, two bariatric surgeons, two intensivists, and three anesthesiologists. The reason such an impressive team was assembled was because Iman was a very high-risk patient. Doctors were geared to deal with any event but they could not guarantee success because of her enormous size.
She had developed a heart condition. The heart, which is responsible for pumping blood to all the organs and throughout the body, simply could not keep up with the demand and had long been working overtime, becoming irreparably damaged. In addition to the heart, the kidneys were also suffering extremely. Iman had developed kidney disease at an early stage in her life. Her body was prone to fluid retention, substantially adding to her size.
At the beginning of 2017, the team of doctors operated on Iman for many hours, performing the bariatric surgery that could potentially save her life. It was touch and go for a few times, but Iman pulled through. However, she was still not out of danger, and doctors kept her in the hospital for the next few months. Their aim was to perform two operations and try to reduce her weight to less than 100 kilograms or 220 pounds in the course of the next three and a half years.
In the months after the operation, Iman was able to lose 325 kilograms or 720 pounds or so the staff claimed. However, her sister, Shaima, was not happy with the treatment the hospital provided and even claimed that the doctors exaggerated her sister’s weight loss. Apparently, they never determined her exact weight before the operation. In addition, Iman was in a fragile state after the operation, needing a constant supply of oxygen, and it seemed like she had suffered another stroke while on the table. She could not eat by herself and was fed through a tube from her nose. But the head of the medical team, Dr. Muffi Lakdawala, denied all these allegations.
The tension between the medical team and the family resulted in a transfer between hospitals. Iman was giving her full cooperation with the weight loss treatment under the supervision of Indian doctors, but this team knew that she needed the best care plan available in the world. They negotiated with counterparts
in the United Arab Emirates to take on Iman as a long-term patient. It took some effort, but the team at the Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi finally got their team and plan together.
Iman was transferred to them on 4 May 2017. It was an exhausting trip, but everyone involved was already amazed at the fighting spirit Iman had displayed during the past few months and the remarkable progress she had made. It was worth all their efforts and dedication to try and help this woman to fully recover and establish a better quality of life.
The fighting wasn’t over yet. Iman kept on giving her full cooperation, but she was still immobile. Her body was trying to cope, but the damage to her organs was severe. The staff at the Burjeel Hospital could not even celebrate her 37th birthday as she was too weak to do anything but lay down as usual. It was still kind of a miracle that she made it thus far, and they kept the hope alive that she would live to tell her incredible story to the world.
We wish that this story had a happier ending, but unfortunately, Iman Ahmed Abdel Ati died on Monday, 27 September 2017, at 4:35 PM. It was only 16 days after her 37th birthday. On her death certificate, the cause of death was stated as underlying comorbid conditions including heart disease and kidney dysfunction. It was a sad day at the hospital. Many of the staff members had known Iman intimately and had been by her side during her personal struggles. Although there was always a chance of her not making it all the way through, her progress and fighting spirit were so remarkable that many did not fully prepare themselves for this tragic event.
Despite the negative outcome, her sister is confident that she’s done anything in her power to help Iman and hopes that she’s now somewhere she can finally be free from the constraints of her earthly body.
What a heartbreaking ending. What do you think was responsible for Iman’s life of suffering? Should the doctors have risked bariatric surgery on such an obese person? Tell us in the comments below. Thank you for watching, and see you next time.
