Smelly fat-arse banned from school bus

[jrandom]

Herald story here.

So a 13-year-old boy is unpleasant in aspect and smells bad.

Not to mention 140kg. 140kg! Even at my worst, after a couple of years of dedicated pie eating and beer drinking and zero training, I've never approached that weight.

Usual comments apply about his "health issues" being bullshit, of course. 140kg at thirteen years old takes some serious dedication to gluttony. Physics and human biology don't allow one to get fat without eating an overabundance of calories, or the millions of people starving and dying around the world would currently be happily shopping for larger-sized trackpants. His parents have overfed him, end of story.

No surprise that his body has subseqently given up the fight and started, amongst other things, uncontrollably defecating on itself.

Still.

Should Kawerau Coaches have banned him from using the bus?

Discuss.

[Hitcher]

Personal responsibility starts here. Get with the programme: eat less, exercise more. It's not rocket science.

[FlangMasterJ]

Should Kawerau Coaches have banned him from using the bus?

Yes.

If the kid is shitting himself on a school bus with other kids aboard then their is a definite health risk.

How could his parents let him get so overweight?

That's the same as a dog owner not feeding his/her dog.

Cruelty to animals??

[deanohit]

Yep, both Hitcher and Flangmaster are right on the money.
My family has a history of obesity, the ones who eat healthy and exersize have no medical problems and get around fine, the ones who just eat everything and no exersize are all sumo's (sorry Nan) with diabeties and heart problems.

[crashe]

How about posting up the full story for all to see.
The young lad has cerebral palsy as well as other conditions to cope with.
There are ways for the school, his parents and medical team to sort this issue out.

Boy banned from school bus because of odour
12:30PM Sunday November 11, 2007
By Katee Shanks

A thirteen-year-old with a medical condition that can result in a strong odour has been banned from using a school bus.

The Kawerau College student's family said he only found out when he went to catch a Kawerau Coaches bus and was told he was not allowed on board.

The 140kg boy receives specialist medical care for morbid obesity attributed to a serious bowel condition.

He is cognitively impaired, has cerebral palsy and experiences faecal incontinence.

Kawerau Coaches told the boy's family that a letter had been sent to the family advising them of the decision. However, the boy's family say they did not receive it.

Through a spokesperson, Kawerau Coaches owner Graeme Harvey said it was premature to discuss the matter before a November 29 mediation meeting with several other parties.

Those parties include Kawerau College staff, Group Special Education (GSE), Multiserve (contracted by the Ministry of Education to manage and administer school transport), the boy's family, their advocate Melody Wharerimu and the Human Rights Commission.

The family have made a formal complaint to the commission.

A GSE spokesperson said they and the ministry had been working to resolve the issue and processes were in place to source alternative transport.

"We are aiming to pay a conveyance fee to the boy's mother for taking him to school."

His mother said the ban was a shock.

"There was a man standing at my gate who told me my daughter could get on the bus but, as from that day, my son could no longer go on the bus and that I should have got a letter telling me why."

She and Ms Wharerimu said they had not received the letter.

"My son got so upset and was crying when the driver was told to close the bus door. All his school peers were in the bus watching."

While attending intermediate school, the boy had travelled on a bus from Whakatane to Kawerau without incident.

Since October 8 the boy has spent five weeks at Waikato Hospital and is scheduled for a stomach-stapling operation in two months.

The prospect of surgery worries his mother who hopes he can achieve weight loss by exercise.

"He will be the first child in the country to have the operation and all of the worst-case-scenarios have been explained to us."

A fitness trainer and family member has agreed to work with John and his parents are hoping to source a bicycle or tricycle in an effort to avoid the operation.

- DAILY POST

[jrandom]

The young lad has cerebral palsy...

And therefore he should have food stuffed down his throat, foie gras style, until he almost literally explodes?

[crashe]

And therefore he should have food stuffed down his throat, foie gras style, until he almost literally explodes?

No, but we don't know what other conditions/syndromes that he may have, that the media hasnt mentioned.

He maybe one who has a compulsive disorder to eating, commonly called 'Prada Willi Syndrome'. We don't know his background at all.

[jrandom]

He maybe one who has a compulsive disorder to eating, commonly called 'Prada Willi Syndrome'.

Gosh, maybe that's the mystery diagnosis I've been looking for all these years!

Although I like to call my personal eating disorder 'Norfland Green Syndrome'.

Oh well. Guess I'd better go check the tyre pressure and chuck some chain lube on the Trek before I go put 50km of pedalling into offsetting the effects of my Dire Health Problems.

Odd, isn't it, how one's 'morning' training rides so often end up as rushed pre-dinner affairs...

[Laava]

He has big bones, as Ricky Gervais said " Yeah, big bones with meat and fuckin gravy!"

[inlinefour]

Although he has a tough lot to cope with being the way that he is, I do not believe that everyone else who uses the bus should also suffer for it. IMO there is being PC (helping pay for the child's transport needs) and stupid (saying the kid can continue using the bus service). Yea the kid has special needs, to its up to the family to find out how it get the help to meet his needs. Although I would expect it to be a shock as they say they never recieved the letter advising them that the boy could no longer use the bus service. I do understand that some people cannot just exercise and eat wisely and remain healthy, but this is the minority within society and the fact that the health dept is going to put the kid through the stomach stapling op suggests that things are pretty bad for the lad. I think I'd rather be here sitting in my wheelchair than be in this kid's situation. But at the end of the day, the kid's life might be a big shit sandwhich, but everyone does not have to take a bite...

[KATWYN]

Tis an awful situation from both sides of the fence. It could not have been easy for whoever approached the problem on behalf of everyone else. But my thoughts are....

Its tricky. A bad smell is encroaching on other peoples space and freedom to "breath fresh air" its the same as a person smoking and the ones that have to suffer the invasion of their personal space. - banning smoking from public places was the best thing that could ever have happened.

Deliberate bad hygiene should be treated the same way ....BUT.......

This poor boy has health issues that cannot be helped and his human rights have to be taken into consideration too. Crash could be right...he may have Prada Willi syndrome which is the reason for his excess weight and then theres the bowel problem related to the cerebal palsy issue (??). Its tricky.

I guess it comes down to tolerance. This poor boy has to live in this body 24/7...these people only need to share a bus with him for 2-3 hours. 2-3 hours of holding ones breath is probably a small price to pay to give a bit of compassion to someone far worse off than the rest of us.

My 2 cents worth

[jafar]

!40kg = morbid obesity Strong odour (stinks) & shits himself No wonder they don't want him on the bus. The other students have the right to get to school without having to put up with that.
Bet the bus company was sick of cleaning his shit off the seats or where ever it landed, the kid sounds like a walking health hazard.
Does make you wonder how a 13 year old can get that huge.

[Deviant Esq]

Not quite sure how a 13 year old frame could support that much weight.... struggling to comprehend. Part of me wants to say "poor bugger", but there's only so much of it that's "poor bugger" when he's that big. I'd be just as likely to think "poor bugger" of the poor kid who had to sit next to his bulk and odour... if there wasn't enough space for him to have a seat to himself.

[bmz2]

Well after reading the press release ,i would not let him on my bus. As for his 140kg over weight problem . It's the parents that are at fault .They only now think that he should start loosing weight, what they waited until he got so over weight and shits everywhere . My god ,shut the gate because the horse has bolted. Problem or not, the parents want to complain about the bus company. Maybe the bus company should give the cleaning bill to the parents

[kerfufflez]

these people only need to share a bus with him for 2-3 hours. 2-3 hours of holding ones breath is probably a small price to pay to give a bit of compassion to someone far worse off than the rest of us.

2-3 hours of holding your breath? Even the Man from Atlantis could only do 2 minutes.