LONDON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A young Frenchman weighing more than 500 pounds was finally on the way home Wednesday after a tortuous trip from the United States, a transport company says.
Kevin Chenais, 22, who spent more than a year being treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for a hormone problem, got stuck in Chicago when BA, the airline that flew him to the United States, said he was too obese to fly back to Europe. The Queen Mary also refused him passage because of his weight.
Chenais made it to London on Monday when Virgin Atlantic stepped in, the (London) Daily Star reported. But Eurostar, which operates rail service between London and Paris through the Channel tunnel, said he could not take take the train because he could be be evacuated safely from the tunnel.
Eurostar said Wednesday it had found an alternative -- ambulance to Dover, the P&O ferry Spirit of Britain to Calais and then the ambulance to the Chenais family home in southern France. The company said it would pay for the ambulance and other expenses.
Kevin has had health problems since he was a baby. He uses a mobility scooter and needs oxygen.
