While she was 16 weeks pregnant, Margaret H. Boemer, found out that the baby inside her womb had a tumor on her spine. The tumor is also called sacrococcygeal teratoma and it causes blood diversion from the fetus which in turn increases the risk of a heart failure.

This type of tumor affects only newborns and it is located at the base of their tailbones. It can grow very large but it is not malignant. It mostly affects girls than boys. Sacrococcygeal teratoma can be tolerated during pregnancy and removed after birth but if it affects the heart function it requires immediate surgical treatment. This kind of operation is extremely risky not only for the baby but also for the mother.

In order to save her baby’s life, Mrs. Margaret decided to undergo the operation. She had been expecting twins but before the second trimester, she lost one of the babies. Doctors had initially advised her to terminate her pregnancy before they suggested the risky surgical intervention.

By the time the surgery was performed, the unborn baby and the tumor were almost the same size. The baby Lynlee had a 50% chance to survive. When surgeons from Children’s Fetal Center in Texas opened her womb the baby weighed only 0.53 kg. They said that due to the huge tumor size, the incision left the baby “hanging out in the air”.

During the procedure, the baby’s heart completely stopped but a heart specialist managed to keep her alive while the teratoma was removed. After the operation, they placed the baby back in the womb and sewed the uterus up.

Baby Lynlee came to this world for the second time on 6th June. She was born by Caesarean section at the full term and weighed about 2 kg. When she was only 8 days old, a further operation was performed to remove the tumor leftovers from her tailbone.

The doctors said that Lynlee, who is four-months-old now, is perfectly healthy as all other babies.

Source:

www.bbc.com