9-year-old boy weighs 143kg and can't stop eating due to rare disorder

AsiaOne
Aug 18, 2016

He's nine and weighs 143kg, and he just can't stop eating.

Not because he consciously wants to, but because he's suffering from a rare genetic disorder that causes him to feel perpetually hungry.

Li Hang, who lives in the Chinese city of Harbin, was diagnosed with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) in 2012 and has been struggling with obesity and other associated conditions such as a fatty liver and high blood pressure, CCTV News reported.

The boy also experiences emotional instability and was found to have a below-average intelligence level - both of which are also hallmark characteristics of PWS.

PWS occurs in approximately one out of every 15,000 births, according to the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research.

"PWS affects males and females with equal frequency and affects all races and ethnicities. PWS is recognised as the most common genetic cause of life-threatening childhood obesity," the foundation says on its website.

Despite being born at a normal weight of 2.5kg, Li started gaining excessive weight when he was three.

At one point, he ballooned to 167kg before losing some weight at a "diet camp".

However, in March he regained much of the weight that he lost and underwent minimally invasive bariatric surgery, which typically involves reducing the size of a stomach.

Li has been selling flowers on the streets in Harbin to help pay the medical bills for the various treatments he needs, Daily Mail Australia reported.

huizhen@sph.com.sg