Fat boy stuck in the U.S.

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Former Member

LONDON (AP) — He's been turned down by planes, trains and even a cruise ship in his quest to return home — and his family says it's because he has been deemed too fat to travel.

Now Frenchman Kevin Chenais' long and fitful journey is coming to an end.

Chenais, who weighs 500 pounds (230 kilograms), says he has been repeatedly refused transport over the past two weeks as he sought to get home to France from the United States. P&O Ferries offered to take him in his ambulance aboard the Spirit of Britain on Wednesday, the final hurdle keeping him from his home near the Swiss border.

"I am absolutely tired," the 22-year-old said as he slumped over in his mobility scooter just before being loaded into the ambulance.

Chenais' mother was outraged by the treatment her son allegedly received, saying he was discriminated against because of his weight.

"It's not the fault of my son to be big. He has a genetic illness," Christina Chenais said. "We are very happy to go home after this long, distressing and traumatic situation."

The odyssey began when British Airways refused to honor his return ticket from the United States, where he spent months receiving medical care for a hormone imbalance.

"When we talked about this problem with British Airways that Kevin was too fat ... (they said) abandon any intention of coming back to France," Kevin's father, Rene, told RTL Radio. "From the fact of his incapacity, his obesity, he was not considered to be a normal being, but more like a problem."

BA acknowledges that it refused to let Chenais board the plane, but said confidentiality rules prevent it from saying why. BA insisted that it does not discriminate against customers for any reason and that the airline provides the option of an extra seat to people who contact them with concerns about seat width.

"We respect the privacy of the customer so cannot comment on any changes in circumstance between arrival and departure dates," the company said in a statement. British Airways declined to say what the changes in circumstance had been.

Carnival Cruises also rejected his request for a cabin on a trans-Atlantic voyage. The company declined to comment.

Virgin Atlantic airlines stepped in to fly him to London, where he had planned to take the Eurostar train home. But Eurostar refused to allow him on board because of safety rules governing travel through the Channel Tunnel: The high-speed train that connects England to France and Belgium requires all passengers to have the ability to be safely evacuated — and Chenais' obesity-caused lack of mobility made that impossible.

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Former Member

People are now treated as animals. Animals can fly in a plane but not a fatboy.

11/21/139:52 AM

SunilAdmin

The world's heaviest woman has lost a staggering 600lbs in the five years since she shot to fame as the 'Half-Ton Killer'.

She made headlines in 2008 after being accused and then found not guilty of murdering her nephew with her own 1,000-pound body, and now Mayra Rosales, 32, has embarked on a grueling journey to save her own life by losing weight.

In TLC's upcoming special Half Ton Killer: Transformed, Mayra's astonishing story is being brought to light as she reveals how she has changed since the murder trial that rocked her life.

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Transformation: Mayra Rosales, once the world's heaviest woman, has lost a staggering 600lbs in the five years since she shot to fame as the 'Half-Ton Killer'. Her new life is revealed in an upcoming TLC special

Unrecognizable: Mayra (pictured with her cousin) has indeed managed to shed an astounding amount of weight thanks to surgeries, physical therapy, and huge changes to her diet. But now she must adjust to normal life

In a trailer for the episode, which airs on December 4, Mayra - who weighed a shocking 1,200lbs at her heaviest point - is wheeled out of her home after construction workers break a hole in the wall to get her out.

They haul her body onto a stretcher and into a U-Haul, since she is too big to fit into an ambulance. 'At this point, if things don't change, I'm going to die,' she says.

According to a press release, she has indeed managed to shed 'an astounding amount of weight' thanks to surgeries, physical therapy, rehabilitation and huge changes to her diet.

But with her new 400-pound body, she must learn to carry out normal activities she has never been exposed to, like grocery shopping and job hunting.

Last year, TLC aired a TV special about Mayra's murder trial and acquittal, in which she was accused of smothering her two-year-old nephew Eliseo to death by falling on him with her 1,000 body.

11/21/131:22 PM