Much Of Woman’s ‘Fat’ Was Cyst

A woman who couldn’t fit behind the steering wheel of her car thought she was hopelessly fat until doctors discovered she was carrying a 91-pound fluid-filled ovarian cyst.

“They say you get a brand new body in heaven. Well, I got mine sooner,” said the woman.

Doctors drained eight gallons of blood from the benign cyst, which had displaced organs in the woman’s abdomen, during surgery Friday at St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital.

The 27-year-old woman, who asked not to be identified, is 5-foot4 and has been heavy since age 12. Two years ago she weighed 370 pounds. She dropped 60 pounds in a year, but noticed no change in her midsection.

The woman suffered from a condition that commonly afflicts women, though seldom to such a degree. A cyst arises from the lining of the ovary and grows in secret, distorting reproductive organs.

The surgeon, Hora Praphat, said perhaps one in five ovarian cysts are the type that may become large.