'Elephant woman' with a 31 kilogram leg

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Alhidaya International

Sadia Abdinur, 35, developed an infection in 2006 and has since seen her leg balloon to the point where she can no longer feed her children.

The immobile mother of two now has a condition called lymphedema caused by 'elephantiasis parasitic infection'.

It is a tropical disease that occurs when parasites are transmitted to humans by mosquitoes and can cause permanent disability.

In Abdinur's case, a parasitic worm has caused lymphatic damage which have shut down her normal immune defenses and caused her leg to swell.

Abdinur has been shunned by her community because of the disease, with neighbors believing she's possessed by the devil.

Her case is so extreme, British surgeon Nigel Standfield, head of the London Postgraduate School of Surgery and Professor of Vascular Surgery and Surgical Education at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, has even offered to operate on her.

"At this very late stage the tissues of the leg are fibrotic, scarred and far beyond treatment of the worm itself, which is not dead," he told The Daily Mail.

"The operation to treat her is very complex and will take possibly eight to 10 hours. Without treatment she will die prematurely of overwhelming infection if cellulitis occurs."

The UK-based Alhidaya International Charity are helping to raise funds for Abdinur's free surgery.

"If Sadia doesn't get help soon she will die. Every day her life is becoming more and more difficult," Shugri Hussein, trustee of Ahidaya International UK, told the Daily Mail.

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