Eman’s journey: The story till now

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Eman weighed five kg at birth, her family ecstatic at such a healthy baby. But by the time she was 11, she was unable to bear the ridicule at school and dropped out abruptly in 1991. Shaimaa claims Eman’s weight exploded around then, but she wasn’t diagnosed as obese. She underwent four surgeries to drain fluid from her legs, but that only inflated her lower limbs like balloons, according to doctors.

Until she arrived in Mumbai, Eman had not stepped out of her first floor flat for 25 years. And two years ago, her movement ceased almost entirely as she lay on a foot-high mattress. Her mother, a tailor, would feed her. Along with youngest daughter Shaimaa, she would bathe Eman five times a day, a concern for hygiene that has ensured she has hardly any back sores.

As her sisters married while Eman stayed bedridden, she did go through bouts of depression, but her family says Eman’s humour counters her despair.

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As youngsters fought the Mubarak regime through social media, occupying cyberspace before they occupied Tahir square, Shaimaa, an engineer, was sending appeals to doctors via the web to treat Eman. The bulk of her pleas were declined. But six months ago, Shaimaa caught a break. An acquaintance told her to contact Indian bariatric surgeon Dr Muffazal Lakdawala.

“I saw her video and knew I had to help her,” Lakdawala says. He almost instantly promised to help Eman (37), despite the odds. Then the logistical nightmare began — the family did not have passports, then Eman’s father died, and later getting a medical visa proved challenging.

Finally in November 2016, responding to a tweet by Lakdawala, Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj helped facilitate the visa. To raise funds, a social media campaign — ‘Save Eman’ — was kicked off. The donations trickled in slowly, and today over Rs 18 lakh has been collected.

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In January, Dr Lakdawala visited Eman for the first time. Eman, who told him that her name meant ‘faith’, started feeling optimistic. In the last week of January, three doctors from Saifee hospital — a bariatric surgeon, a physician and an intensivist — arrived in Egypt with 300 kg of medical supplies in 11 bags. The clock had now started to tick.

In 20 days, preparations had to be made to move the 500 kg woman from her house for the first time in 25 years. Once this team landed, a WhatsApp group was immediately set up. Besides, the “task force” of doctors treating Eman, the group also included hospital nurses.

Eman on the way to the hospital. Amit Chakravarty

Back in Mumbai, Huzaifa Shehabi, COO of Saifee Hospital was arranging for a mattress to carry Eman’s weight. “A thin paper-like mattress was designed and prepared, which could take a maximum of 2,000 kilos,” Lakdawala said.

Shehabi said they realised they needed a strong iron bed that could withstand gravitational pressures and balance Eman in flight. He went to Egypt to meet an engineering team that mostly spoke Arabic. “I was scared of what I would say, and what they would make of it,” he said. NOSCO, an Egypt-based marine engineering company, offered to make a 3G torque bed, at no cost. The extra large white iron bed was ready in three days.

Egypt Airways, the airline partner, customised a cargo aircraft. “We had to strap her well…and not like a goods cargo. Just imagine an 800 plus kilo person and bed just zittering around in the cargo. In case of an accident, no insurance would cover the airline,” an official said.

Meanwhile, doctors were hard at work. Dr Aparna Bhasker said they inserted a central venous catheter.

“It was the most difficult procedure because we did it at home,” said Bhasker, one of the three doctors who went to Egypt. The procedure is used to administer fluid into the body. Eman did not eat much, the fluid in her blood vessels was low. Ironically, it was in abundance outside her blood vessels.

Back in Saifee Hospital, a Rs 2-crore 1000-square-feet room with an extra-large door frame was being prepared. Hospital trustee Moiz Bhaisaheb, doctors said, gave them a free hand to equip it with what they needed — a chain pulley, lifting swing, infusion pump, a central monitoring system and several high-tech equipments. The room was readied in just three days with 75

(Source: Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

On February 10, the anticipated day arrived with a throng of onlookers, a crane-operator and more. NOSCO offered a crane for free to lift Eman from her first-storey flat. In the 12-storey government building, the family first took permission to break down an entire wall in their drawing room. Two iron stretchers were fixed in the opening. Eman’s bed was mounted on it and lifted by crane, as onlookers watched.

The arrangements to bring Eman down from her home took two days and 50 workers.

“Everything was drawn like you would do a recce for something. Everything was tested and that included about 12 people weighing 800 kg just sitting on the bed that would be maneuvered by a crane. People on the bed were brought down twice. We didn’t leave any stone unturned,” said Lakdawala.

Eman lay silently, wrapped in her blanket as she was lifted gently. “Her heart beat was 80, ours was much higher,” laughed Dr Aparna Bhasker. Shehabi said over 400 cargo and logistics experts were approached globally for advice. “There were extensive deliberations on administrative and medical requirements. We set up teams in Egypt,” he added.

The truck took two hours to drive to Borg El Arab Airport where an Airbus 300-600 freighter was waiting, turned into an air ambulance with a special enclave for the designer cot. Egyptian company Horus worked for free to arrange the lifting and transporting in a truck.

By nightfall, Eman was loaded in the cargo plane, with an oxygen cylinder, defibrillator, ventilator and bags of drugs. Having lost a few kilos already, she was also on blood thinners. Eight hours later, the plane landed in Mumbai, glitch-free. It cost Saifee Hospital Rs 83 lakh to bring her via Egypt Airlines.

(Source: Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)

At the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, Egypt’s Consul General stood waiting as the bed was gingerly transferred into a made-to-order open truck. It took one and half hours for the entourage — with media vans tailing — to reach Saifee Hospital, probably the slowest green corridor implemented by the Mumbai traffic police, whose head Milind Bharambe was coordinating from Lilavati hospital where he himself was admitted that night.

As news of the safe landing reached the hospital, trustee Moiz Bhaisaheb made last minute arrangements for flowers, in the early hours. “We are inviting someone to our house. She is our guest,” Moiz told his staff. At the hospital, the exercise of testing a crane with the bed and 12 men on it was repeated. Finally, Eman was lifted in.

A sleepy but cheerful Eman reportedly smiled all the way, sister Shaimaa beaming by her side. In India, medical equipment supplier Huntleigh’s senior director Chander Tahiliani had agreed to make a specialised Citadel Plus Bed for Eman free of cost. While beds can carry a weight up to 350 kg, no Indian manufacturer supplies beds to support 500 kg. Huntleigh customised a bed.

Since Eman’s admission, a strict order ensures there are no “extras” on her floor. The Special Branch of the Mumbai police have visited numerous times. “We were informed by the police that hospitals are on the soft targets’ list so we cooperated with the police. There were large crowds gathered when Eman arrived and it was considered a possible law and order issue,” claimed a senior official at the hospital.

For now, Eman watches movies in bed. “It is a picnic until now,” Lakdawala said. She watches Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan movies, though Salman Khan is “awwal” (on top). The day after her arrival, a doctor brought her mangoes, something she hadn’t tasted, before her special diet kicked in.

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The WhatsApp group continues to function, permitting efficient communication for X-rays, Sonography images, etc.

“Dr Hemal will be treating the kidneys, so he will put it there saying here’s what I’ll do, so you’ll have to handle the other end. Shela, who is the endocrinologist, will say you cannot go too fast. So everyone’s holding each other’s hand and taking the next step,” Lakdawala said, adding that he only has to check on Eman twice a day as the WhatsApp notifications tell him the latest about her.

Doctors hope to reduce 200 kg in the next six months. Two bariatric surgeries are in the pipeline, the second one two years later. With a BMI of 252, ten times higher than any normal person, bringing her down to 100 kg is the shared dream.

A week since she was admitted, Eman has lost 30 kg. She has a new eight-hour sleep cycle and can now blow kisses to her doctors thanks to improved limb mobility. She is on a strict 1,200-calorie per day diet and undergoes two sessions of physiotherapy every day.

“Even if she is able to sit up and eat on her own, it is a victory for us,” Lakdawala said.