Meet the man who had a 100kg tumor removed from his abdomen

 

Larry West, from Bakersfiled, Calif., is recovering after the first of three surgeries to remove a 200-pound tumor growing in his abdomen.

A Bakersfield, Calif., man underwent the first in a series of three surgeries to remove a 200-lb. tumor from his abdomen.

 

Larry West’s tumor was so large that it hung down near his feet and had its own blood supply. “It just kept growing larger and larger all the time,” said West, 63,

 

Charlotte West said her husband often ran a fever from infections.

Charlotte West said her husband often ran a fever from infections.

“I have a hanging 150- to 200-pound sack of potatoes hauling around on me all of the time.”

 

Because of the tumor, which started growing in 1999, West has trouble walking and has painful infections.

 

West's surgeries are taking place at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital.

West’s surgeries are taking place at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital.

“Two o’clock in the morning, he’ll start getting the chills, teeth chattering chills and high fever. And what are you going to do at two o’clock in the morning?” said his wife, Charlotte.

 

The Wests struggled to find a doctor who would remove the tumor before finally meeting Dr. Vip Dev at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital.

 

In West's first surgery, doctors removed 32 pounds of skin and tissue.

In West’s first surgery, doctors removed 32 pounds of skin and tissue.

West couldn’t find a doctor to perform surgery, and his insurance company wouldn’t cover it.

 

The growth is caused by hardened fat and infected hair follicles, Dev said.

 

'I'm so looking forward to doing regular things,' West said.

Such tumors “grow into balls of what we call fibrous scar tissue, and literally he has multiple of those,” said Dev. “They’re so big that you can’t even study them because we don’t have a MRI or CT scan we can fit him in.”

 

In West’s first surgery, which happened Tuesday, doctors removed 32 pounds of skin and tissue.

 

“I’m so looking forward to doing regular things. It’s going to change my life tremendously,” West said.

Read more: NY Daily

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