"It looked like she was pregnant with triplets": US woman has to let huge cancer tumour grow for month... until she qualifies for healthcare on 65th birthday

Surgeons have now removed the rapidly growing tumour when it was 51 pounds? - nearly half what the 120-pound woman weighed otherwise

Removed: The 51 pound cancerous tumour

Reuters

An American woman had to let a huge cancerous tumour in her belly keep growing for nearly two months... until she hit 65 and became eligible for OAP healthcare.

Surgeons have now removed the rapidly growing tumour when it was 51 pounds (23kg) - nearly half what the 120-pound woman weighed otherwise.

The patient, named only as Evelyn, a housewife from Union Beach, New Jersey, was described as "just all belly" when she went to the hospital.

"She was a skinny lady with a huge belly. It looked like she was literally pregnant with triplets," said Dr David Dupree, of the Riverview Medical Centre in nearby Red Bank.

"The reason she didn't go earlier was because she had no insurance," he said.

Surgery: Dr. David Dupree removes the tumour

Reuters

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Evelyn waited six to eight weeks from first noticing the growth before going to see doctors until she turned 65 and would qualify for Medicare, the U.S. healthcare programme for seniors.

By now, she weighed more than 170 pounds, her legs were swollen with trapped blood, she was badly dehydrated, and, scans showed, the tumour was crushing a main vein, putting her life in danger.

Opening her up, Dupree and his team found the tumour had engulfed many of her internal organs, and had to be sliced away "millimetre by millimetre" over the course of five hours.

The doctor said he would advise uninsured patients to see a doctor immediately if they knew they were unwell... no matter how near their 65th birthday might be.

He said the hospital would have operated on Evelyn regardless of her insurance status - though it would have cost her more money.

Evelyn must still see an oncologist about treatment for her cancer, which may not have been completely eradicated by the surgery, and may require chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/new-jersey-woman-lets-cancerous-1133257

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