World's heaviest man is 70-stone Briton who needs Chinook airlift for life-saving operation

By Andrew Levy

Last updated at 1:28 PM on 20th October 2009

Doctors fighting to save the life of the world's heaviest man are considering calling in an RAF Chinook helicopter to move him 150 miles to a specialist centre that will treat him.

Paul Mason, who weighs 70 stone, needs the help of weight-loss doctors and possible surgery to lose tens of stones.

But the treatment will have to take place in Chichester, West Sussex, a considerable distance from his home in Ipswich.

The Health Service has introduced a number of the specialist ambulances designed to transport massively overweight patients but it is not clear if one can be made available to take 48-year-old Mr Mason to Chichester.

Health chiefs are therefore considering a number of alternative ways to transport him there, including using a Chinook.

Mr Mason, who has made numerous unsuccessful attempts to shed weight permanently and is now virtually immobile, lives in bungalow with a 4ft-wide front door.

If a cargo helicopter were used to take him to Chichester, the operation would probably involve moving him from his home in a specially reinforced wheelchair or stretcher to a nearby clearing where the helicopter would be able to land.

Paul Mason (right) is pictured here in 2007, when he weighed 45-stone. He was able to go out on his own in a specially-modified wheelchair, but his weight has since ballooned to an incredible 70 stone

Several paramedics would then be needed to push Mr Mason - possibly with electronic assistance - along the loading ramp into the aircraft.

Mr Mason, a former engineer who suffers from food addiction, has previously admitted tucking into three family-sized takeaways every day - equivalent to around 20,000 calories. A typical adult male needs around 2,500 calories a day.

His weight had soared to 62 stone before he managed to drop to 45 stone in 2007. But he has has since put on another 25.

In 2002, when he needed to visit a local hospital for a hernia operation, he had to be lifted out of his home by a forklift truck.

Paul Mason's former house in Ipswich had an extra-wide front door to enable him to get his wheelchair out. In 2002 he was 'rescued' from the property by firefighters

Paramedics who arrived to take him to the hospital had to call the fire service, who were unable lift him on to a stretcher and carry him out of the council flat he shared with his widowed mother, Janet.

In the end they used building tools to remove his bedroom window and a row of bricks before knocking down a neighbour's wall to be able to drive the vehicle up to the opening.

The firemen then placed a series of straps under him so that he could be lifted up by the forklift truck and placed in an ambulance with specially lowered suspension to make it easier for him to be moved in and out.

Since then, when he has been mobile, Mr Mason has used a specially-made wheelchair, one metre in wide, to get around.

The world's heaviest man Paul Mason needs to be transported 152 miles from his home in Ipswich, Suffolk, to hospital in Chichester, West Sussex

Operation: The Chinook could be used to take Paul Mason for treatment in Chichester, West Sussex

Mr Mason, whose mother died recently, has since moved home to his new bungalow. He declined to comment yesterday. One of two carers at his home last night said: 'He doesn't want to talk.'

The cost of the operation to move him to Chichester's St Richard's Hospital, where the NHS bariatric service provides surgical weight loss treatment for more than 200 obese patients, is expected to run into tens of thousands of pounds.

The cost will be met by NHS Suffolk, which is obliged by law to provide treatment.

A spokesman for the primary care trust, which is responsible for 585,000 patients, said officials are looking at alternative forms of transport and the situation is 'ongoing'.

Once the world's fattest man: Manuel Uribe was driven around his home town in Mexico to celebrate losing 400 pounds in 2007. It was his first trip outside for five years

The world's heaviest man on record was American John Minnoch, who tipped the scales at 100.2 stone. He died in 1983 at the age of 42.

More recently the title of world's heaviest man was held by Mexican Manuel Uribe, whose weight peaked at 94 stone (596kg), leaving him bedridden.

Amazingly Mr Uribe shed half his weight by going on a strict 2,000-calories a day diet, before getting married last year.

In 2004 the record holder was 77st American Patrick Deuel. Britain's previous heaviest man was 65st cab driver Barry Austin, of Birmingham.

James Tait, Kenny Thomason arrested for 'sex with farm animals'

By staff writers

news.com.au

October 20, 2009 02:15pm

POLICE are investigating a farm which allegedly promoted itself as a destination for sex with farm animals.

58-year-old James Tait - who was convicted in 2005 of trespassing on a neighbour’s ranch to allegedly have sex with horses - has been caught with his pants down, accused of bestiality on another US farm.

He was charged with three counts of felony animal cruelty. Kenny Thomason, who lives with Tait in Maury County, was also charged with two counts of the same offence.

"They've been having sex with full-grown horses," Maury County Detective Terry Chandler.

"(Tait) has been here for four years, and it looks like it has been going on for some time."

Det. Chandler said the pair lived on the farm owned by Mr Thomason, which housed 13 horses, Shetland ponies, goats and dogs.

The detective said it was suspected people had been having sex with the ponies and dogs, as well as the larger horses.

Police were tipped off after an anonymous person who had visited the alleged sex farm emailed authorities photos of the a man performing bestiality.

Authorities had also discovered several video tapes explicitly showing men performing the acts on the farm animals leading them to believe it could be a haven for animal sex.

Tait was arrested in 2005 for trespassing into a neighbour’s farm to allegedly have sex with the horses, a crime which is believed to have resulted in another man’s death.

Tait pleaded guilty to the crime, but admitted a jury would have "most likely convict him" .

He was given a one-year suspended sentence, a US$300 (AU$323) and was ordered to do eight hours of community service

Both Tait and Mr Thomason are each being held on more than $US100,000 ($A107,503) bail, Det. Chandler said.

Boy has Arabic script from the Koran appear on skin

By staff writers

news.com.au

October 20, 2009 11:00am

A BOY has become a walking monument to Muslim faith after passages from the Koran started appearing on his skin.

Text in Arabic from the religious book started showing on the boy’s back, arms, legs and stomach, leaving doctors baffled.

They first started appearing shortly the baby was born, with “Allah” appearing on his chin, The Sun reports.

Doctors say the markings are a medical mystery, but deny the condition is a result of someone writing on the child’s skin.

The parents of the child initially hid the mysterious writings, but eventually took the boy to the doctor.

They say the old passages fade before new words appear roughly twice a week.

"Normally those signs appear twice a week - on Mondays and on the nights between Thursdays and Fridays," the mother said.

"Ali always feels bad when it is happening. He cries and his temperature goes up.

"It's impossible to hold him when it's happening, his body is actively moving, so we put him into his cradle. It's so hard to watch him suffering."

Since the holy markings were revealed, the boy became the focus of Muslim homage in his hometown province of Dagestan, in the south of Russia

Man castrates self to be begging eunuch

From correspondents in Jodhpur, India

Agence France-Presse

October 20, 2009 08:31pm

A POVERTY-stricken man in western India cut off his genitals in an apparent attempt to join the eunuch community, who often make a living from begging, police said.

The 22-year-old was befriended by eunuchs and used to go begging with them at functions such as child births, marriages and festivals.

Though uninvited, eunuchs often attend such occasions because many Indians believe it is inauspicious to turn them away without giving money.

The man, named as Chauthmal Raigar, had been out begging on the Hindu festival of Diwali on Saturday before he mutilated himself in a village in Rajasthan state, local police chief Chaggan Singh told AFP by phone.

"When he came back, he went into his house and cut off his genitals. He was probably motivated by the money the eunuchs collected as he comes from a very poor family," said Singh.

Eunuchs are marginalised in India and, unable to gets jobs, rely on begging and the sex trade for income. 

Video: Russian commuter's brush with death as brakes fail on speeding bus

By Sara Nelson

Last updated at 10:43 AM on 20th October 2009

A commuter’s terrifying brush with death as he tried to cross a road has been caught on CCTV.

The clip, filmed yesterday, shows the man carrying a briefcase as he makes his way across the street in the Russian city of Perm.

Perhaps late for work, he breaks into a light jog and miraculously manages to dodge a speeding bus as it ploughs through the traffic and nearly flattens him.

Running late for work: The commuter breaks into a jog as he crosses the road in Perm, Russia

Speedy: The bus comes into shot as the man reaches the half-way point

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