A woman who struggled to lose weight has discovered the bizarre cause – a tumour with hair and teeth growing in her ovary.
Jaimi Conwell, 28, a nurse from Texas, US, had been trying to lose weight for years, trying a range of diets including eating low calorie and keto foods, as well as exercising.
But despite working out twice a day and eating a healthy diet, she was unable to lose any weight and within the last two years, she started to gain weight rapidly.
Jaimi knew something wasn’t right, so decided to visit her doctor in March 2021 after experiencing some worrying symptoms.
“I would bend over to tie my shoe and get nauseous, which I thought was normal for bigger people,” she told Jam Press.
“I got my blood count checked to make sure everything was normal and my white blood cells came back abnormal.
“I was placed under anaesthesia, but was with my mum who I made a proxy so she could make any decisions for me.
“The doctor came in and told her I had a massive tumour in my abdomen that had engulfed my right ovary.
“He asked if they could remove it and my mum agreed, so I had the tumour along with my right ovary removed.
“After I woke up, I took a walk with my mum and I could see the worry in her face, so I knew something wasn’t right.
“She told me about the tumour and that they were unsure if it was benign.
“I was in so much shock, that I can’t remember how I was thinking or feeling at the time.
“At one point though, I remember thinking: ‘Am I going to die? Did I even live the life I wanted to?’”
Although she was stunned, Jaimi agreed with the choice to remove her right ovary as multiple tests showed how dangerous the tumour was.
She was diagnosed with a teratoma tumour – a slow-growing tumour that had been growing her entire life.
As the tumour weighed 20lbs, it is believed that it overtook all the nutrients she was giving her body in order to grow.
Jaimi said: “I was in shock, as that’s like having three kids inside of you.
“[I was told] that it was also growing teeth, which was an absolute shock.
“It also grew hair and I think that was more disgusting for me than anything.
“They said it could be due to a number of things and as my mum, grandfather and aunties are twins, maybe I had a twin in my mum’s womb.
“At first, I thought that [having my right ovary removed] meant that I couldn’t have kids and I was devastated. All I have ever wanted was to have kids and start a big family.
“I was so depressed and crying all the time, until I saw my OBGYN [Obstetrics and gynaecology] who assured me that all my hormones and eggs will go to my left ovary.
“I shouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant, but not being able to have kids is still heavy in the back of my mind.”
Armed with the knowledge that the tumour was likely the reason she had failed to lose weight so far, she returned to her diet and exercise regime, eating protein shakes, fish, chicken and salads.
One year on, she has lost 7st 5lbs and now weighs 10st 7lbs.
Jaimi decided to upload her transformation to TikTok, after her sister said she should share her weight loss journey.
In a clip, which has received 1.8 million views and over 437,000 likes, she shows off her transformation.
She starts with a video of herself before losing the weight, as she lip syncs: ‘If I get pretty one day, it’s over for you bitches.’
As she cuts to a clip revealing her transformation, she lip syncs: ‘I would just like to announce, that it is now over for you bitches.’
‘You’re so pretty,” one viewer commented, followed by a love heart emoji.
Another person added: “You were beautiful before and beautiful now.”
“It really is over for me,” someone else said.
One person wrote: “Why’s my glow up passing me?”
“You lowkey look like Kylie Jenner to me,” another viewer said.
Someone else commented: “Naaahhhh comment section tripping, your transformation is insaneeee.” [sic]
