'Starved' Student: Money the Reason for Weight Loss

March 3, 2008— -- A 17-year-old student who returned home from a year abroad 55 pounds lighter and on the brink of starvation said his host family complained about how much he ate as well as how much electricity and water he used.

"It's hard to say what their intentions were," Jonathan McCullum, who spent four months in Alexandria, Egypt, with a Coptic Christian family, told "Good Morning America" today. "I believe it's all related to money."

"They would tell me that I was using more money with the electricity and the water bill than their daughter did," he said.

Soon, the teen noticed the family hiding food and limiting how much he was served.

"It began gradually when I would snack whenever I felt like [it] and they started to hide food in their room," he said. "At dinner I would get a smaller portion than they would."

"I know they did reduce the food intake and limit my consumption," said McCullum, who added he didn't notice his 5-foot-9 frame wither down to 97 until after he returned to the United States.

"It could have been the malnutrition and the gradual decrease," he said of why he didn't notice the dramatic weight change.

While he may not have recognized it, his parents instantly did when he got off the airplane.

"When I saw him get off the plane, I didn't recognize him and neither did David," said Jonathan McCullum's mother, Libby McCullum, on "Good Morning America" today. "I was like, 'Oh my God. John's going to die.'"

He spent two weeks in a hospital after his arrival.

"He had some heart damage due to the lack of animal protein," said the student's father, David McCullum.

While McCullum has continued his recovery in his home state of Maine, the teenager still has yet to reach the 155 mark, which he weighed when his fall study abroad program began.

McCullum said he still struggles with some physical problems.

"The fatigue and the weakness and I'm still thin for my height," he said.

The teen's host family has denied starving him and said McCullum actually ate quite well.

"The amount of food he ate was equal to six people," a family statement said.

One concerned teacher e-mailed the McCullums to tell them of her worries about their son.

"His physical and emotional well-being worry me so much," the teacher wrote. "Believe me, he is in bad shape. "

McCullum said he didn't tell anyone of his situation because he didn't want to go home.

"I wanted to stick it out the whole year and prove to myself and my family that I could complete this and be independent," he said.

David McCullum said he blames the organization that was in charge of the exchange program.

"I believe the Egyptian people are good people," said McCullum's father on "GMA" today. The failure is on the part of AFS Intercultural, he added.

But AFS Intercultural said it acted appropriately.

"As soon as we had any inkling that there was any issue at all we of course brought him right home. We follow very strict guidelines that we have developed over 60 years of handling exchanges around the world to make sure that every student is safe and well taken care of," said AFS Intercultural programs director Margaret Crotty.

The first photos most people saw of Josh McCullum showed the 97-pound teenager in a Maine hospital room, where he spent two weeks after his arrival home from a fall study abroad trip to Egypt.

His host family was Coptic Christians who are vegetarians and fast 200 days of the year as religious tradition.

McCullum's parents said that their son was no longer the boy they sent on the program and that they would consider filing a lawsuit against AFS USA, the nonprofit study abroad program that arranged McCullum's trip.

Doctors said the teen's health had deteriorated so much that he was at risk of suffering a heart attack when he returned in January.

"This situation is unique," Margaret Crotty, director of AFS Intercultural programs, told "Good Morning America." "It's not the norm." Crotty also insisted that student safety is always the organization's first priority. AFS USA, founded 60 years ago, organizes abroad programs in 40 countries.

The father of McCullum's host family, Shaker Hanna, told the AP that the teen under their care was extremely well-fed throughout his stay. The Coptic Christian family offered McCullum fish and meat, Hanna said.

"The truth is, the boy we hosted for nearly six months was eating for an hour and a half at every meal. The amount of food he ate at each meal was equal to six people," said Hanna, who has two sons and a daughter studying in the United States in separate AFS exchanges.

McCullum is one of thousands of American students who travel overseas for high school and college exchange programs to learn about a foreign culture through immersion.