Woman with 60kg leg at Dhaka medical

Wife of a poor farmer in Sylhet, 40-year-old Rezia Begum was like any other ordinary hardworking woman. It was when she gave birth to her second daughter 18 years ago that she noticed something was wrong.

What was “wrong” gradually began to devour her life. Now, she is no longer that woman. Rather, she can barely work at all. She is now considered as a burden to the struggling family.

“I noticed swellings on my legs when my second daughter was born,” Rezia told The Daily Star. “They were gone after primary treatments, but returned some years after.”

Now, her right leg has swelled up to the point of downright alarming. Her relatives say it weights about two mounds and it takes at least three people to move her.

“She is now a burden to the family. She cannot work or contribute to the family,” her brother in-law Ana Mia told The Daily Star. “Rather it takes at least three people to move her.”

Her husband, Abdul Malek, a poor farmer in Eola Tel village of Sylhet’s Osmaninagar, took her to various doctors over the last 18 years, but to no avail or hope.

His hopes rekindled anew when he heard of Muktamoni being treated to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. As a last resort, he took her to Dhaka medical yesterday. She is now admitted in the Blue Unit of Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

“We primarily suspect she has elephantiasis – what is commonly known as the elephant’s foot disease,” said Dr Shamanta Lal Sen, chief coordinator of Bangladesh’s burn units.

“But, we will have to do tests and surgery to be sure,” he told The Daily Star.