Abu Dhabi: Eman Abdul Atti, once billed as the world’s heaviest woman, is now able to move her lower limbs for the first time in two years.
The 36-year-old Egyptian is also able to sit unsupported in bed for about 15 minutes, and has been partially feeding herself orally for the last two days, doctors treating her at the Burjeel Hospital Abu Dhabi said in a statement on Sunday.
The improvements in Abdul Atti’s condition were greeted by her mother, who has now joined her daughter in the capital.
“We appreciate the efforts made by [the hospital] to take care of Eman and also respect her privacy. We also thank the media for reflecting the facts very objectively and respecting Eman’s privacy,” Abdul Atti’s family said in a statement. Abdul Atti’s bedridden plight first received public attention when her family posted a desperate plea for help online to Egyptian president Abdul Fattah Al Sissi. Her family claimed that Abdul Atti suffers from elephantiasis, a parasitic infection that leads to extreme swelling in the arms and legs, and had become confined to bed since about 12 years of age.
In February 2017, Abdul Atti was finally flown to a Mumbai –based hospital, where she underwent bariatric surgery in March. Reports from the hospital claimed her weight reduced from 500 kilograms to 176 kilograms. But a dispute about her weight loss and subsequent treatment led Abdul Atti’s family to reach out to Burjeel Hospital, which also offered to treat her.
As reported by Gulf News, she arrived in Abu Dhabi on May 4 along with her sister, Shaima Abdul Atti. Doctors said at the time that their primary short-term aim was to treat Abdul Atti’s pressing medical concerns, including her bedsores, urinary tract infection, speech-related concerns and mental wellbeing. They also declined to reveal Abdul Atti’s weight, and instead called upon people to respect the patient’s privacy.
Dr Yassin Al Shahat, chief medical officer at Burjeel Hospital and Dr Nehad Halawa, head of Abdul Atti’s treating teams, announced today that their mid-term goal is to continue to rehabilitate Abdul Atti.
“By the end of this stage, we expect that Eman will be able to feed herself orally, and use an electric wheelchair after reasonable weight loss through a strict dietary regimen,” they said.
In the long term, the doctors hope to perform corrective surgeries for her lower limbs, undertake plastic surgeries to take care of the excess skin, and perhaps even replace a defective valve in her heart.
For now, Abdul Atti is smiling a lot more, and communicating with those around her. Her bedsores have also improved, and according to the medical team, she is steadily losing weight.
