With help from 20 firemen, a Hsinchu County man was carried out of his apartment and sent to a hospital for medical treatment after being trapped in his home for two weeks because he was too big to fit through his front door, a local newspaper reported yesterday.
Lu Tsung-hsien (
PHOTO: TSAI CHANG-SHENG, LIBERTY TIMES
Having inspected the situation a day earlier, the Hsinchu County fire department yesterday sent 20 men to help Lu out of his building.
They first tore down Lu's door and rolled him onto a canvas before carrying him in the elevator from his fifth floor apartment to the ground floor.
With the help of a crane, the firemen put him on a fire truck before driving him to the Mackay Memorial Hospital for medical treatment. It took more than an hour to move Lu from his room to the truck.
A newspaper report said Lu's mother had tried to hire a crane to move him through the balcony but the high-voltage cables near the apartment building made it too risky.
Lu weighed 178kg after finishing his military service four years ago, but ballooned to 250kg a year ago.
In March, he was still able to walk on his own, but two weeks ago, he began to feel sick and was unable to stand.
He has since lain on the floor and sat up for one minute every day with the help of his family, the paper said.
Doctors said the increase in Lu's weight was caused by an abnormality, as he does not eat much. They said they have formed a medical team to help him.
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