Doctors baffled by ‘most complex case ever’ as man loses half his body weight
Doctors are still trying to work out what has happened to a man who lost half his body weight in just three years.
Back in 2022, Halifax man Ben Hayman started feeling dizzy and his skin had gone grey, so he decided to seek out a medical opinion which led him to be diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes and acidosis, which is where his bodily fluids become particularly acidic.
He was given insulin to treat himself with and he started losing weight at a rapid pace, which at first he thought was due to the success of a weight loss class he'd been going to as he lost a stone in his first month before it became apparent that something else was going on.
Over the course of three years the 41-year-old's body weight dropped from 22 stone to 11 stone, and over that period Ben suffered from a blood clot, sepsis and cavitating pneumonia which left a hole in his lungs.
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Ben was diagnosed with malabsorption and stomach ulcers, but doctors still don't know what the root cause of all of this is.
The 41-year-old was recently rushed to Calderdale Royal Hospital after he collapsed while trying to get out of bed, shattering his femur in the process.
Ben's partner Joanne said: "We just wish he could be well and that we could live the life we had previously.
"It all just came out of the blue. It’s so sad to see a man deteriorate like he has. He was a strong, 6ft 4in, well-built man.
"He’s missed out on so much of our six-year-old’s life and he can’t work and provide for his family anymore. It sucks."
She explained that 'no one knew what the problem was' and Ben was tested for all sorts of conditions without doctors successfully identifying the root cause.
Between November 2023 and January 2024 they put him on Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN, it's where nutrition is delivered intravenously) which seemed to be improving things, but Ben collapsed at work in April 2024 and could not move his arms and legs.
He was put back on TPN and remains on it, with Joanne explaining that they'd seen three hospitals worth of doctors and specialists who'd described Ben's illness as 'the most complex case they’ve ever seen'.
"Since he’s become poorly, everything has stopped. Ben can’t work and provide for his family anymore. That was his main priority," Joanne said, before describing the impact it was having on their six-year-old son.
"For our son, daddy being ill is the norm."
Ben's friends and colleagues have set up a GoFundMe, which you can donate to here, where they're hoping to raise money to help the Halifax man pay for specialist treatments, living expenses and hopefully get him a diagnosis.
Joe Harker