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ILFORD: Man who can't get fat donates body to science
2:16pm Wednesday 16th April 2008
Comments (1)A greasy Chinese take-away washed down with treacle tart and clotted cream is a recipe for days of guilt-induced fasting and sit-ups for most of us.
But for John Perry, 59, his days of counting pounds are over and after deciding to donate his unusual body to science, he is hoping to give us all a ticket to eat our hearts out.
At the age of 12 Mr Perry went from being the chubby kid in the playground to a "bag of bones" almost overnight, after developing a rare condition known as total body lipodystrophy which stops him putting on weight.
While most people struggling to shed pounds would give their right bingo-wing to develop Mr Perry's condition, he said he would regularly scoff chocolate as a youngster to try and bulk out his skinny frame.
Mr Perry now eats a fairly balanced diet, but enjoys the fact that he can happily tuck in to unlimited burgers, take-aways and fatty desserts while his 11st 12lb frame stays rock steady.
At first doctors thought he had a stomach ulcer, and Mr Perry endured decades of hospital visits and tests before he was finally diagnosed with the condition that sees his body produce six times the normal amount of insulin.
Now Mr Perry, who has quickly become the talk of the town and the country after appearing on TV and in the national press, hopes he can help solve Britain's obesity problems by offering pharmaceutical companies the chance to find his fat defying hormone.
He said: "For the last year you can hardly pick up a newspaper without reading something about obesity.
"It occurred to me that I might have the answer to it."
Mr Perry, of De Vere Gardens in Ilford, added: "I'm used to the intrusion as I was told I was the most tested person ever at the Royal London Hospital and I was presented to the Royal Society of Medicine where I had about 40 doctors poking and prodding me.
"If they can pin-point my hormone then dieting and obesity will be a thing of the past.
"The implications are mind-boggling."
John Perry, who is hoping his medical condition will help doctors combat obesity problems
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Zoe, South Yorkshire says...
10:06pm Sat 19 Apr 08
For correct information about Lipodystrophy in all it forms please check my website www.lipodystrophy.co
.uk
Lipodystrophy has many serious and life threatening metabolic complications but affects females more severely than males. It is by no means a slimmers dream and can cause premature death if not treated correctly. I myself have Familial Partial Lipodystrophy (FPLD) and have severe insulin resistance, diabetes, enlarged liver and pancreas, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides. And that is only part of it. People with certain lipodystrophies can look healthy on the outside but have serious medical issues on the inside, especially males.