It seems these days with all the talk of OBESITY pandemic - well, so it's been called over in the UK and across the Atlantic (USA), but one fact remains, if you're fat, you haven't got a prayer.

One article in one of the national newspapers caught my eye over this weekend. It was about a British father of one, weighting in the top end of 300kg (50st) who died at the tender age of just 38 as a result of a heart failure.

Mr Mark Bamber’s family were faced with the undignified way of burying their loved one as no normal coffin will fit him, and as a result was buried in a makeshift coffin. The carpenters crafted a box-like casket, 2.4m (7ft 11in) tall and 1.4m (4ft 6in) wide. No hearse would accommodate him neither, hence he was forced to be carried to his last resting place using horses tied to cart-like carrier.

With his body occupying the casket, the solid mahogany box weighed nearly half a tonne.
Even the crematorium didn't even want him as he wouldn't fit through their entrance. With cremation being his or his family's choice, but without adequate facilities to accommodate him, burial was their last option.

Now, the question is, is it the society's fault with him being treated in this undignified way? Or would you say it was this man fault for allowing himself to get to this state during his life? With no adequate provision for all overweight people in and around the world no matter what part of the globe you live, in the case of one’s eventualities, the end of an overweight person is considerably looking grim by the day.

But I was curious to here Mr Bamber's brother, Ray saying "Everybody is getting lager. If we can't fix that (OBESITY), then we've (Government) got to start catering for it, like the Americans do". He understandably thinks his brother had not been treated with dignity in his death by our Government or the society.

His wife, Mrs Bamber said she hoped no other families go through what she described as "Uphill Struggle". She added, "Mark was a very large man and just wasn't helped or catered for in life or now in death"

Mr Bamber as was later be known to be bedridden for the last eight months of his life and when it was observed that he had began struggling to breathe, paramedics were called in, they in turn called the fire Department to hoist him out of his house in Wigan, Engalnd, through the window.

With all these happening before his death, the question arises again, do we cast the blame wand towards him for getting himself into that state or do we direct the blame to the Government for not forcefully removing him earlier from his home to attain proper treatment. What about his family, his wife, brother and relatives, are they to also culpable for allowing this to develop to this stage, right under their noses?

Before we answer any of these questions or perhaps casting any judgment, let’s ask ourselves this, had Mark Bamber being your brother in his life, what would you have honestly done? Would you have had him forcefully and legally removed from his home for help?

What if he was your husband, what would you have done? But before you answer these questions, I would like you to do me a quick favour, look around yourself right now as you read this, how many Mark Bambers have you around you as at this very moment?

We all have friends, neighbours, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, uncles, etc, surely one of these people might be overweight. Perhaps not as heavy as Mr Bamber were, but overweight nonetheless. Hence, the big question is, what have you done to tackle this problem thus far?
Finally, maybe as you read this article yourself, you might be thinking you're overweight, what help have you sought to combat this?

On that note, I'll leave you with one thought in your mind to ponder, no matter what we think our Government, friends, family should do to help, the bottom line is, one must and should be willing at foremost to help oneself in winning this terrible war against obesity..