BIG ISSUE
Mum of 18st son, 15, she ‘didn’t realise’ he was obese until his hip collapsed due to his weight
THE MOTHER of an obese teenager has admitted she didn't think his size was a problem until his hip collapsed beneath his weight.
Sue revealed her horror after her son Harry, 15, was rushed to hospital for complex and painful surgery due to complications as a result of his 18st size.
7
Speaking in an upcoming Channel 4 show, 100 Kilo Kids: Obesity SOS - which sees her son receive help from specialist doctors at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children's Obesity Clinic - the overweight mum explains how she "didn't realise" the extent of his obesity.
"I didn't realise it was as bad as it was," she tells the camera.
"I suppose you see them every day and you don't realise how much weight he's put on."
Harry - who credits his dad's sporadic presence in his life for him seeking solace in food - is warned that if he doesn't reduce his Body Mass Index (BMI) of 44, there is a likelihood is other hip will collapse too.
7
However, the wake-up call does not spur him on to shift the pounds - after initially losing 4st, he then regains 2st.
Professor Julian Hamilton-Shield explains in the programme that many of the hospital unit's junior patients follow a similar pattern, despite supervision from the clinic - and parents are often to blame.
"We're trying to work out what's within the family that is leading to the excess weight," he says.
"We don't like it — nobody likes it — but we probe. And sometimes it comes out and sometimes it doesn't."
7
This is the case for another teenager who is featured, Tommy, who initially lost some weight after being referred to the clinic aged 12 in 2018, but gains 6st in five months, as the programme was filmed last year, to reach 23st.
His mum Esther - who also has three other children aged eight to 18, and describes herself as a "bigger mum" - recalls how his weight gain began five years ago when he was diagnosed with glandular fever and then CFS/ ME.
He started spending a lot of time in bed, with "the lack of activity was a massive contribution to the weight gain" and due to long periods being asleep "he'd miss proper meal times and be grabbing and grazing".
She claims she tried everything - including "home cooked healthy meals"; - before seeking help from his GP, and then the clinic.
7
However, the unit's doctors discover that the reason Tommy suddenly puts on a stone after losing weight is because Esther is smuggling in extra food.
"As a typical day's menu, he had a slice of toast for breakfast, a jacket potato with cheese and beans for lunch and the same for dinner with two pieces of fruit,' she says, after being found out.
"It was going from one extreme to another and it's not sustainable in the real world."
The programme also tells the story of Lily, who at five weighs 7st, and her mum Lana who struggles to control her appetite.
7
"I pretty much have to starve her to get her to lose any weight,' explains the exasperated parent - who also has a seven-year-old son, Jaden, who is much slimmer.
"Even after a meal she says she's starving — she will pinch her belly and tell it to stop hurting."
Lana once found her daughter - who has been teased for her size and fears she'll end up in a wheelchair - eating raw sausages from the freezer, and even toilet paper.
When she is denied food, she has violent fits of anger.
7
"It started from when she was tiny, eight weeks old. I noticed that no amount of milk would fill her up, she was never satisfied with what she was given," explains Lana.
"She would wake often in the night screaming for food. At first I just assumed she was a really hungry baby, so, of course, I just gave her what I thought she needed."
However, by the time she was three years old, her mum could no longer pick her up - and her appetite only got stronger.
""She would go through all the cupboards and the freezers to get anything, every sort of food she could get her hands on,' she explains.
7
"It was the same at nursery. I would get calls from the staff saying she was going into the kitchen trying to get food. I didn't really understand it — why she was the way she was."
After visiting the GP, Lily was referred to the clinic aged four and placed on a calorie-controlled diet.
They discover through blood samples that she has a rare genetic malfunction which means her body can't process calories as efficiently - and her hunger pangs feel like the equivalent of someone who hasn't eaten for three days.
The inside look at the clinic, which treats 80 outpatients every week, comes as it was revealed obesity among primary school age children is at an all-time high.
100 Kilo Kids: Obesity SOS airs on Channel 4 at tonight at 9pm.
Most read in Fabulous
In other parenting news, we told you how a genius mum-of-three has made her daughters personalised costumes for World Book Day without spending a fortune.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
We also revealed how a mum has hit back at trolls who "mum shamed" her for letting her kids eat McDonald's.
And a mum has shared a "grab-n-go" method for her kids lunchboxes as her house is small.
Woman dumped by boyfriend after doctors told her she was too fat to give birth drops NINE dress sizes in one year
Topics