AN 11-YEAR-OLD boy who weighs 22 stone has become one of the first children to be considered for a stomach banding operation. Joe Hara, who has a 54in waist, faces the procedure as a last-ditch attempt to reduce his weight.

He is one of a number of morbidly obese children, some as young as 3, being treated at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

Paediatricians at the hospital are treating increasing numbers of pre-school children for nutritional obesity and contemplating surgery for older children on whom nothing else has worked.

Stomach banding is a procedure that reduces stomach capacity with a compressing band, to which doctors can add or remove fluid to control its size. Doctors are reluctant to offer it even to adults because of complications that can arise.

Children being considered for surgery include those with a body mass index as high as 70, when the normal range is between 20 and 25. An adult with a BMI of 35 is considered clinically obese.

Some have been treated with anti-obesity drugs, with mixed results, and have been told that they could die in young adulthood if they do not lose weight. The problem has become so acute that doctors are trying to set up an obesity service for children, many of whom suffer from diabetes and breathing problems and are at risk of heart disease.

Joe weighed more than 22 stone when he was taken to the hospital with a hernia caused by his weight. He was considered for surgery but is now trying to lose weight with the support of Shine, a course that offers nutritional advice, psychological support and exercise. In the past month he has lost 19lb.

He said: “They told me that I had to lose half my body weight or I could need an operation. I felt scared and my Mum got upset.

“The nurse in my school told me about the course. I didn’t want to do exercise at first. I wouldn’t have thought about going swimming before but they let me wear a T-shirt. I enjoyed it.

“I used to eat three bags of crisps a day and I got bullied at school. I don’t do PE at school; I sometimes don’t go to school that day. I used to get my Mum to write letters, or my teacher would let me stay in the office.

“I used to sit in front of the TV, legs up, eating and playing on my PlayStation, but now I’d like to do badminton and table tennis. I feel happier since starting the course. I weigh less and I’m proud of myself.”

His mother, Moira Hara, 40, failed to recognise how big he was getting until he was taken to hospital with a weight-induced hernia. She said he had “always been big”, weighing nearly 11lb at birth, but that she hoped the weight would “drop off naturally” as he got older.

“When I went back to work his Dad used to look after him and got in the habit of putting bags of crisps and bars of chocolate in his hand, rather than preparing dinner.

“I’ve got four lads and I work, sometimes it’s easier just to nod your head, but I was the one doing the shopping — I’m just as much to blame,” she said.

“A few months ago he got a hernia. The doctors said it was weight-related and one of them said Joe was the most obese child he had seen for his age. I was in tears. They said if he didn’t get some weight off it would lead to diabetes and that he was heading for an early death. It scared me.”

Ms Hara, who said that her other sons were also overweight, is determined to get Joe’s weight down so that he does not have to have the stomach banding operation.

“I’m going to have to put my foot down and keep him going,” she said.

Doctors at Sheffield Children’s Hospital say that, while Sheffield is home to some of the worst rates in the country, it is by no means unique in experiencing such high obesity levels among young patients.

Neil Wright, a consultant paediatrician at the hospital, said: “We’ve got to address the needs of those children who are already seriously overweight or they will suffer early heart disease and strokes.”

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