JUST a day after media reports of Mr Mohd Naim Itam Ahmad's (top) fight with his flab were published, the 350kg man died.
The 44-year-old had difficulty breathing and drew his last gasp at 4.45am on Wednesday.
The former security guard's plight and his parents' struggle to take care of him over the past year when he became bedridden were first reported on Wednesday.
His mother, Mrs Saedah Uda Busu, 76, told Harian Metro: "I needed help to ease his pain and suffering. So I thought the newspaper reports would help. But as it turns out, God loves him even more."
The housewife whispered some prayers into his ears just before he died.
Mr Mohd Naim was so overweight in the past year that he could not haul himself off the bed.
Over the few days before he died, his mother said he had complained of body aches.
Mr Mohd Naim's younger brother, Mr Mohd Sapri, 43, said the body was placed in a wooden box and rolled onto a lorry before being sent to the cemetery near their village of KampungTeluk.
He added: "A crane was used to lift the box and later lower it into the burial ground."
At the time of his death, Mr Mohd Naim weighed 350kg and had a 330-cm waistline, making him the fattest man in southern Perak.
He had to quit his army job in April 1993 due to his weight and later stopped working as a security guard.
Last year, he could no longer ride his motorcycle.
When he became bedridden, he had problems urinating and moving his bowels.
Last Saturday, when he had to go to a hospital, the Fire and Safety Department helped to move him out of the house and place him on to a lorry.
But the family's hopes of finding a cure were dashed when the doctor sent him home, saying there was nothing medically wrong with him other than his obesity, his mother claimed.
