‘It feels fantastic to be able to move more and be more self-sufficient.’ Juan Pedro, an accomplished guitarist, spent nearly a decade in bed after his weight ballooned following a crippling traffic accident he suffered as a teenager and a bout of pneumonia.

His plight became world news in November 2016 when pictures emerged of him being transported from his home in the central Mexican city of Aguascalientes to a clinic 100 miles away in Guadalajara.

Juan Pedro Franco’s plight became world news in 2016 when pictures emerged of him being transported to a clinic in Guadalajara

He was then thought to weigh 79 stone but doctors discovered he was nearly 15 stone heavier than they first thought.

He had appealed for help four months earlier when he announced he weighed just over 60 stone and admitted he hadn’t left his box room for six years and feared he would die after having to quit a special diet which his OAP parents couldn’t afford.

He said at the time: ‘When I was six years old I already weighed nearly 10 stone and it’s gone up and up since.

‘At 17 I weighed just over 36 stone. That was when I had an accident and broke half my body and spent a year and a half in bed.’ Three stomach reduction ops have helped transform his life and he is now awaiting new surgery to remove loose skin thought to weigh nearly 15 stone.

Specialist Jose Antonio Castaneda, who has performed his gastric bypass surgery, has been credited with playing a key part in saving Juan Pedro’s life.