‘World’s Fattest Woman’ Headed to India on Special Plane for Weight Loss Surgery

Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, the “world’s fattest
woman” will travel from her home in Egypt this
weekend to a special facility in Mumbai, India, for life-saving weight reduction surgery.

Abd El Aty, 36, who has not left her home in
more than 25 years, will fly on a specially
designed Airbus plane, custom modified to help
her 1,092 pound body make the international journey.

A team of ten people from the Saifee Hospital in
Mumbai have been in Egypt for several weeks,
helping to prepare the woman for the journey,
and to make the transition from home to plane to
hospital as comfortable as possible.

The woman’s family says the surgery, which
doctors offered to do free of charge, is likely the
only option to save Abd El Aty’s life. She has been incredibly obese since birth, when her
family says she was diagnosed with elephantiasis, an incurable condition that swells
her limbs and renders her immobile.
In childhood, Abd El Aty suffered a stroke, which
set off a domino effect of ailments. She has
hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes and
sleep apnea, all of which could prove fatal.

Abd El Aty’s family has been trying for years to get a visa to India and convince an airline to fly Eman to the specialty bariatric surgery clinic in
Mumbai, which is supposed to be one of the best
in the world. Fearing that she might die on the way, airlines repeatedly turned the family down, until doctors at the clinic said they’d sponsor her journey.

Once in Mumbai, Eman will have part of her stomach removed, hopefully triggering a major weight loss. Eman will leave Egypt this weekend
and arrive in India on Monday.