Justin Painter, age 7, weighs over 250 pounds.
Posted on 03/23/2007 3:37:27 PM PDT by COUNTrecount
TRYON, N.C. — A North Carolina mom has two months to get her 250-pound son's weight down before Polk County social workers decide whether to remove him from her home.
Justin Painter is only 7 years old but already weighs more than many adults.
Joyce Painter said she's taken her son to different doctors over the past four years, but no one has been able to pinpoint the cause of his obesity. She also says she keeps her son active. Painter said she began noticing her son putting on a lot of weight when he was 3 years old.
Most doctors told her to watch his diet. Painter said she's done her best to make sure Justin is not eating more than he should. She told WSPA-TV in South Carolina that she gives Justin one plate of food at meals, complete with vegetables, and doesn't give him chips or cookies.
"I do the best I can to cook him healthy meals and everything," Painter told WSPA-TV. "If I'm doing something wrong, show me, show me what I'm doing … if there's something in there I shouldn't have, show me so I can throw it out:"
The Division of Social Services has threatened to remove Justin from their home if he doesn't lose weight.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Justin Painter, age 7, weighs over 250 pounds.
WTFIIWNC
I don't believe this mother. This kid is taking in a lot of calories.
Good Question!
I don't think I've ever seen a four foot plate.
Weight does not magically appear. Jsut like you never believe anyone who says, "All I have to do is LOOK at a picture of cake and I gain weight". Sorry honey, all you have to do is STOP heading the damn cake, and you can lose the weight. Are the veggies she's giving him on his one(giant I'm sure) plate deep fried?
There is at least one obsecure medical condition that can cause this...small hands is a clue. No mention of it in the article.
GFQ. My guess, too much inbreeding......
(2) No mention of a dad....
if his parents are thin as rails, I'm tempted to believe he has a medical condition..if they're "people of size" (to use the correct PC term) it may be genes or she just may be stuffin his face..I won't make judgement other than to say if the mother is actively trying to stop the weight gain and do all the right things, like she says she is, social services needs to butt out..
"No mention of a dad...."
That stood out in the article for me, also.
Saw the mom's face this moring on TV. She's pretty good size too.
I often wonder the same thing about FL. :)
Mom ain't doing the kid any favors by stuffing him like a foie-gras goose and then lying about it.
I'm not saying that this person has Prader-Willi Syndrome, but it is an example of a condition where one actually can gain weight on greatly reduced caloric intakes. This is compounded by the complete lack of a sense of satiation (they always feel as though they are starving and never feel full). Many with this have to be restrained from anything that they perceive as food, including baking ingredience and food waste (aka garbage). It is rare enough that few doctors know of it, but it has a distinctive development pattern as noted below.
http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic1880.htm
History:
Infants with PWS commonly exhibit hypotonia, poor suck with requirement of gavage feedings, weak cry, and genital hypoplasia (eg, cryptorchidism, scrotal hypoplasia, clitoral hypoplasia). Neonatal hypotonia is one of the hallmark features of this disorder and is a valuable clue to initiate diagnostic testing.
Toddlers with PWS demonstrate late acquisition of major motor milestones (eg, sitting at age 12 months, walking at age 24 months).
Children aged 1-6 years manifest symptoms of hyperphagia with progressive development of obesity.
Short stature is generally present during childhood; a minority of patients present later with lack of pubertal growth spurt.
Most patients with PWS have growth hormone deficiency, as determined by provocative testing.
Pubic and axillary hair may arise prematurely in children with PWS, but other features of PWS generally are delayed or incomplete.
Testicular descent has occurred as late as adolescence; menarche may occur as late as age 30 years in the presence of significant weight loss.
Patients with PWS often exhibit behavioral problems.
Young children manifest temper tantrums, stubbornness, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.
Behavioral issues often compromise the level of academic performance. Obsessive-compulsive behaviors and perseveration provide challenges for the child with PWS in the classroom setting.
Of young adults with PWS, 5-10% demonstrate features of psychosis.
Food seeking behaviors may include eating garbage, eating frozen food, and stealing resources to obtain food. High thresholds for vomiting and tolerance of pain can complicate binging on spoiled foods and delay treatment for gastrointestinal disease. After episodes of binge eating (eg, at holidays), both thin and obese individuals with PWS have developed abdominal discomfort with acute gastric dilation seen on radiography. Some patients have progressed on to develop gastric necrosis.
Mild mental retardation is a commonly associated characteristic.
Management of complications of obesity (eg, sleep apnea, cor pulmonale, diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis), hypogonadism (osteoporosis), and behavioral issues are common problems in adults with PWS.
My hubby's cousin had that. They had to lock the fridge, so he would break into the homes of neighbors and eat. He was institutionalized. This was in Canada, so I don't know if treatment could be different here. Anyway though, the mom in the article says she doesn't know how the kid got fat (yeah right). My husband's cousin ate all the time, they know for sure how he got fat.
Fried Chicken? Grits?
Von Fatso by Proxy.
What I'd like to know is what business is this of the government? Since when does allowing a child or an adult for that matter to over eat constitute abuse??
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