By SHAUNA ANDERSON
She’s the little girl who can’t control her hunger.
A delightful vibrant six-year old who weighs a devastating 43 kilograms.
Hana Taraff has put on 23kg since Christmas after lifesaving brain surgery resulted in a side effect meaning the little girl is constantly hungry.
Hana had a brain tumor removed but the surgery to remove the tumour damaged the part of her brain which controls her appetite and metabolism.
The result is a six year old who is constantly hungry.
Despite a healthy diet – carefully structured by her mother, a nurse, all Hana can think about is food.
Her mum, Naomi Cook told News Limited that Hana “ is chronically starving, her rest and digest pathway is over stimulated, insulin is constantly being pumped making her famished.” The little girl now suffers hypothalamic obesity.
Hana’s mother, Naomi Cook has written previously for Mamamia about Hana’s condition.
She wrote:
“My daughter’s body is one I can hardly recognise, by touch at least. Even her hands feel different to hold. The weight gain so is tremendous simply getting up from sitting down is tiring for her. Her ankles have given up, painful and inflamed, she uses a wheelchair to move around outside when she wants to remain pain-free. She is haunted by an appetite so strong that food rarely leaves her thoughts.”
At various times the family have flirted with potential treatments – some, such as oxytocin brought about some small improvements in Hana, but none a total cure.
But there is now a glimmer of hope on the horizon for Hana.
Her parents, Naomi Cook and orthodontist Nour Tarra have searched worldwide for a cure.
They have recently made contact online with an American girl who has the same condition as Hana.
Alexis Shapiro is a 12-year-old girl from Texas who had exactly the same type of brain tumour removed at the age of nine.
She too suffered hypothalamic obesity.
And just like Hana Alexis put on around a kilo a week.
The only way to save Alexis’s life was to have a gastric sleeve procedure that reduced the size of her stomach and curbed her appetite by targeting messages to her brain.
“We were in the same boat (as Hana’s parents) searching for someone to help us and doctor after doctor kept telling us ‘sorry, we can’t help her’,” Alexis’s mother Jenny Shapiro told News Limited.
After her operation, happily Alexis is thriving – losing 30kg since March and equally importantly no longer having her type-two diabetes.
She has even returned to school.
Her mother told NBC News that at one stage she was having to lock the kitchen cabinets to prevent Alexis from eating a whole jar of peanut butter at a sitting.
The surgery has assisted in regulating those intense cravings for food.
But Dr Thomas Inge, who performed the surgery told NBC Alexis isn’t out of the woods yet with a long battle ahead of her.
The success of Alexis’ journey has given hope to the parents of Hana.
They are now travelling to the US this week to meet with Dr Inge.
What is unsure is what affect gastric surgery would have on a child as young as Hana.
“We don’t know what the impact will be on growth and development before skeletal maturity” Dr Inge told News Limited. “ We worry whether the benefits of surgery will be greater than the risk of operating at these young ages,” he said.
The family are hoping that Dr Inge can help where no one else has been able.
“I can’t sit by and wait for skeletal maturity with Hana, she will die, and it is already sapping the life out of her. She already has fatty liver and is insulin resistant — obesity kills your body.” Her mum told News Limited.
“I guess what we’re calling for here is a bariatric surgeon willing to operate (on Hana) and an endocrinologist willing to oversee the rest of Hana’s complex conditions.”
With her weight rapidly increasing and other options narrowing we only hope that this glimmer of possibility pans out for this loving family.
Our thoughts are with them all.
Top Comments
Thanks for sharing our journey and for your well wishes. Just wanted to say that we aren't heading to the US yet - we've got a phone call with Dr Inge in a couple of weeks where we will discuss options. There is no surgery planned as yet and he hasn't said outright that he would perform a surgery yet. We are REALLY hoping to find someone here in Australia who will help us, as Hana will need intensive follow up due to her young age. In addition - my husband and I are looking into reversible surgeries such as lap banding and the vagal block as opposed to the Bypass - so that if there are issues the procedure can be reversed. Thanks so much once again and I hope to blog an update for the Mama Cares section soon with more details. xx
I watched a show on gastric sleeving and was surprised that it just isnt the physical reduction of the stomach that makes a person lose weight. Apparently, it has been discovered that the op can alter the hormone production that controls hunger. Some very obese people have abnormal amounts (either too little or too much) of hormones that control average peoples' appetite. A surprising side effect is the hormone production becomes "normal". The body is an amazing thing!