Doctor Reveals Woman's "Stomach Tumor" Is Actually Her Unborn Child

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In many ways, the human body is very good at protecting itself. As we go through life, we're being subtly helped along by the bizarre reactions our bodies have to certain situations without even realizing it. When we need to make a sincere apology, for example, our embarrassment at what we've done triggers blushing, which helps others forgive us. This is because it's fairly easy to fake an apology, but it's impossible to fake blushing.

Even behaviors we find irritating about ourselves can have good reasons for existing. Motion sickness and morning sickness are little more than nuisances in the modern world, but they may have saved our lives back when we were still a young species vulnerable to all of the world's dangers. In both cases, our brains are telling us to vomit as a precaution against poisons and harmful parasites so that we can safely live and reproduce.

However, even systems as sophisticated as the ones within us don't always work the way they're supposed to. What should be a miracle of new life can become life-threatening if something goes wrong during a pregnancy, which is why we used to see so many deaths in childbirth. Our systems of modern medicine have done a lot to protect us in ways our bodies can't by themselves. However, sometimes the problem can be unpredictable, even for the most skilled doctors.

Sadly, this was the hard lesson learned by 92-year-old Estela Meléndez when she discovered she had been carrying a fetus inside of her for over 60 years. You can learn how this happened to her by watching the full video.

As you'll learn, doctors initially thought Meléndez had a tumor but it's difficult to blame them for the mistake. Having a calcified "stone baby" outside of the womb is so rare there are only about 300 cases of it reported in all of medical literature. Moreover, that's the number of cases we've seen by now, but it's very likely that most doctors wouldn't have even heard of this rare condition when Meléndez went for her appointment 60 years ago.

Back then, the most well-known case dated all the way back to 1582 when a French woman carried a stone baby for 28 years.

As the video explains, doctors are concerned that removing the fetus will pose undue risk to Meléndez's safety. Surprisingly, it also doesn't usually cause her any physical pain and she's at no risk of picking up an infection from it. This is because the layer of calcium around it keeps it safely contained so none of its dead tissue can make any contact with her.

However, this protection still comes with a sad cost. She had always dreamed of having a child with her husband of 74 years, Manuel González, who passed away last year. The calcified baby prevented her from ever having any children, which she said was one of the few regrets in her life.

So while the bump hasn't given her much physical trouble, it's a constant reminder of what she has lost and what can never be.

Please COMMENT and tell us what's always seemed to be out of your reach.

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