General Chat

A half-hour documentary about a woman who underwent an 18-hour operation to remove a tumour nearly twice her own weight! (was on Channel 5 last night). Brian, ;<O

Brian already seen this docu twice on Discovery Health well worth watching she is an amazing woman xxhugxx

I have seen this on Documentary as well before she is brave woman. Dave

I saw this too. I found it fascinating.

reminds me of my mother in law who wanted 2 stones of excess fat removed so the surgoen chopped her head of.

Where did she carry this tumour? Gonna have to watch , like you Brian I'll be behind a cushion. Much happiness debi

Oh, Sean! Shame on you! At least you didn't have the mother-in-law that applied for a summer job .......... swimming up and down the lakes of Loch Ness. Wouldn't mind, but the first day the monster got out and picketted the lake! Er, not my mother-in-law, I hasten to add! Sorry Brian, not trying to take over your thread.

GROTESQUE......... Wasn't she!? The poor woman. What the surgeons and their team did was nothing short of miraculous. All that flesh! 50 pints of blood! 40% skin grafting! Incredible! And what a transformation afterwards. Two years on, and her emaciated face and body was changed beyond recognition. I didn't get her age. Anyone know? Brian, ;~o ) By the way...didn't need the cushion!

Incredible, wasn't it Brian? I was tempted to mention the dramatic change in her appearance (well, you know what I mean)yesterday, but obviously that would've spoilt it. What an amazing and very brave woman.

Hi, Mary in Sydney, That wasn't a 'typographical error'....the tumour weighed 14 stones!! The lady was, before the onset of this awful growth, a 'normal' sized young American woman. Wedding photos show her as such. After a few years of marriage they adopted a little girl. Somehow or other, a small growth on the woman's back, there from birth, started to grow, and grow, and grow. (I hope you're not too squeamish). It spread around her waist and lower back, to the lower part of her body, and filled up with numerous blood vessels, sagging down in front of her like some enormous balloon. Why this condition was allowed to get so bad wasn't clear; it may have been that no surgeon had the courage to attempt to remove it, and so it kept growing. Eventually a top surgeon became very interested in the case; enough to examine the poor woman in minute detail, and ultimately perform the operation. He had with him another top surgeon, top anaesthetist, and, of course, about a dozen nursing staff. They were very much entering into the unknown. It was the biggest tumour on record, and the chance of her surviving was very much in the balance, not surprisingly. The operation (in a Chicago hospital) took 18 hours. Every exposed blood vessel had be cauterised instantly, or she would have bled to death. They started on her front, and at some point had to turn her over extremely gingerly, then finish removing this grotesque mass. The operating theatre resembled an abattoir, and when the last cut was made the whole 'thing' slid into a nearby wheelbarrow! It was taken along to the pathology lab. where they found it was non-malignant. During the op. the patient needed 50 pints of blood. Her wound had to be treated like a massive burn area -- 40% skin grafting was needed, the grafted skin coming from her legs. When we first see her awaiting the operation she is terribly thin and emaciated, her face and arms in particular. Three months after the op. she left hospital, still in pain but smiling. Naturally, she had to return to hospital frequently for further treatment. We see her two years later, with her husband and daughter, and the change in her looks is astonishing. Her cheeks are fuller and rosier, compared to the sunken cheeks we'd seen before, and she'd returned to her pretty looks and 'normal' size. I don't know if you'll ever see it on your TV, but it appears to be entitled: 'The woman with the 14-stone tumour. A documentary about Lori Hoogewind, who underwent an 18-hour operation to remove a tumour nearly twice her own weight'. It ran for half-an-hour. Hope you managed to read all of this!! I didn't think I'd be able to stomach it (no pun intended), but it was rivetting, and mind-boggling at the skills and tenacity of the surgeon and his team. A miracle if ever you've seen one! Brian, ;~x )

This programme was one about a year 18 months ago. I had to video tape it as I couldn't get to watch it then. I was absolutely amazed that she hadn't had it removed earlier and that the doctors where happy for her to just go away and live with it. The courage, not only of the woman, but the doctors to attempt to removed it and give her her life back. I still have the video tape if anyone is interested.

I have seen this before, when Chris Tarrant used the footage of her operation on one of his shows................as something to laugh at!! AND people did laugh! I could not believe what I was seeing, people having fun at her expense. She must have been terrified, by what was happening to her. I hope she is having a great life and that she is happy again. Deanna