413kg New York woman rescued from her apartment building with a crane [Video]

AN OBESE PERSON — A passenger waits for a delayed flight at Heathrow airport's terminal four in London August 12, 2006. Reuters/Toby Melville

The Fire Department City of New York (FDNY) met with quite a challenge at East Harlem Friday after finding out that they had to break a woman's apartment window and haul her out using a crane to bring her to the hospital. The sick woman was reportedly estimated by spectators to be about 413 kilograms, although the FDNY did not release official numbers.

The New York Post writes that 70-year-old Marie Bowman had been using food to comfort herself after the deaths of her mother, grandmother and son. Bowman had reportedly called 911 because she felt ill. When the paramedics came to her second-floor on Fifth Avenue, they realised that her girth disallowed her from getting out the door. As a result, the FDNY had to remove a window, bring a crane and place her in a large net so they could get her to the ambulance and into St. Luke's Hospital, writes New York Daily News.

"This is my life, not a show. I'm here in the hospital because I want to live," said Bowman in a bedside interview with the NY Post. She added that she is bent on changing her lifestyle and exercising more.

Obesity is a prevalent health issue in the United States. A study recently published in journal JAMA Internal Medicine shows that more than two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese. It also shows that around 36.84 percent of women (nearly 35.8 million) and 35.04 percent of men (31.8 million) are obese. Meanwhile, 29.74 percent of women (almost 28.9 million) and 39.96 percent of men (36.3 million) are estimated to be overweight.

Stories of firefighters rescuing obese patients because they can no longer move are not new in the U.S. Reuters reports that in April, New York firefighters had to use a rope-and-pulley system to haul a 700-pound man down from his sixth-floor apartment unit through the stairwell when they couldn't get him out through the window. In 2014, the Florida fire department cut a hole through a 500-pound man's home in Palm Springs so they can rescue him, according to a report from the New York Daily News.

Contact the writer of this story at feedback@ibtimes.com.au or let us know what you think below.

Woman estimated to be 800 pounds rescued from East Harlem apartment