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'I was eating myself to death'

Australia’s obesity epidemic has created hundreds of extreme cases and one expert has estimated there may be as many as 1000 people physically unable to leave their homes.

Andre Nasr was one of them, most likely the worst in the country, but Australia's heaviest man has made a change that could save his life.

Andre grew to 470kg and had been unable to leave his house "for the past two to three years."

Before he went to hospital he was consuming a staggering 50,200 kilojoules or 12,000 calories a day — six time the average consumption recommended for Australians.

He had become so fat a wall had to be removed from his home so that health workers could reach him and move him to hospital where he joined a specialist treatment program.

It has been a lifelong struggle with food for Andre, one he likens to an addiction, and he was clinically obese by the age of three.

Eventually his weight threatened to kill him. He was in a critical state with pneumonia and infected skin ulcers between his folds of fat.

He comes from a family of food lovers and said his mother Marie would always bring him food, even as an adult.

"If he wants food I’ll make a way to take it to him … through the window," Marie Nasr said.

"What you going to do as a mother? You have to take him some food."

Andre says he had a sad childhood being overweight but he doesn’t lay the blame on his parents.

"To an extent I’ve learnt to own and take responsibility for what I could’ve controlled and I can control now but the reason the blame still lingers is because it is like the foundation was corrupt."

Dr Nic Kormas is a specialist in the field of obesity, working at Sydney's Concord hospital.

Andre wrote to him with a letter pleading for help.

"I am not ready to die at 35 years old," his letter said.

"I’m easily 400 kilograms if not more and I have been trapped in my house for at least the past two to three years. Please help me Dr Kormas I am begging you"

Andre wrote Dr Kormas a letter pleading for help
Andre wrote Dr Kormas a letter pleading for help


Dr Kormas said Andre's condition was among the worst he had seen, but it wouldn’t be the last.

"We talk about severe obesity as people having a body mass index of more than 45 now. Mr Nasr has a body mass index of close to 145," Dr Kormas said.

"I’ve seen more people this year who have become stuck and ended up in hospital than I have in the last ten years of working in this area of medicine."

Dr Kormas cut Andre's intake down to 2000 calories a day and introduced daily exercise.

The first goal was to get Andre to stand again.

After nearly 10 months in hospital, Andre got his weight below 300kg and can finally walk, but he still has a long way to go.

Wife Natalie has been with him every step of the way, but her attempts to control his eating failed.

"I love him. I do. I love him to bits. So I see beyond his weight," she said.

"He needed it. He needed a fix. So even if he didn’t get it he would actually get quite angry if he didn’t get what he wanted so yeah it was, yeah, so yeah like a drug"

She said the hospital was his only option and it was a relief for both of them to take the step.

Sunday Night thanks Fire and Rescue NSW, Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) and Ambulance Service NSW for assisting with this story.