Keely Favell was only 24 years old when her stomach began to grow. By 2016, she appeared to be pregnant. Keely couldn’t understand her sudden weight gain, but her fear of doctors kept her from receiving a diagnosis. Eventually, she found out the unbelievable truth behind her swollen belly…
Loving Herself
Keely always regarded herself as “chunky,” but she never had any problems embracing her body or was overly-concerned about her weight. In 2014, however, she noticed that she was gaining more weight than usual…
Staying Healthy
Keely was a health nut. She regularly made an effort to work out and always tried her best to eat clean. When she began to put on some pounds, it didn’t make sense to her. Rather than assuming anything was wrong, she just worked out harder to maintain her figure…
Trying to Control It
Keely couldn’t understand why she kept growing in size. “I was exercising and eating healthily but I was slowly getting bigger. It crept up so slowly I didn't know anything was wrong; thought I was putting on timber.” She continued to exercise and eat a healthy diet, but her weight continued to increase…
Nothing Felt Different
She wasn’t feeling ill or experiencing any kind of urgent side effects. Her energy levels were the same, and she didn’t feel any kind of pain. She began to wonder if this is just the way things were…
Changing Body
Keely did everything she could to ignore her weight gain. The mystery continued to plague her. Then, one day, she noticed that she was only carrying the weight in her lower abdomen.
What Was Happening?
As the months passed, Keely’s lower abdomen became hard and sensitive to the touch. She didn’t know what was happening inside her body, but she hoped it would go away on its own…unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Trying to Live a Normal Life
Before her mysterious weight gain, Keely was a size 14. Eventually, Keely reached a size 22. She was beginning to get worried but avoided going to a doctor to figure out what was going on.
Scared and Confused
Even though Keely always weighed slightly above average, the number on the scale continued to skyrocket. There was one specific option that seemed like the answer to all this…
The Obvious Answer
By that point, Keely had been in a relationship with her partner Jamie for ten years. All her symptoms, including weight gain, increasing fatigue, and swollen belly, seemed to fit the mold of pregnancy.
Not Trying for Kids
If Keely ended up being pregnant, it wouldn’t have been intentional. Both her and Jamie were terrified for the results. As the days went by, it became more and more likely to them that Keely was carrying a child.
Not the Case
The test came back negative. Keely and Jamie were surprised, but false negatives were bound to happen. They took another test just to be sure…
Another Negative
The second test confirmed Keely wasn’t pregnant. She started to feel like there was no chance of this going away on its own.
Fear of Doctors
“Having grown up with a dad as a doctor, I had become a bit of a medical coward, so seeing the GP was not my first option,” Keely said. She knew she had to go to the doctor, but kept putting it off…
Out of Options
She was worried the doctor would dismiss her weight gain as “merely being fat” which, unfortunately, was their initial diagnosis…what else could she do?
Ignoring the Concerns
Keely knew something was seriously wrong with her body. Still, as long as it wasn’t directly affecting her daily life, she could continue to ignore it.
Breaking Point
Two years had gone by and Keely’s stomach just kept growing. Her patience was wearing thin. Then, one day at work, she passed out cold…
Stress
Finally, Keely went to her doctor. “It was a tough period in work and when I passed out my GP put it down to stress,” she said. It seemed like she had no other option but to trust her doctor’s opinion.
Shut Down
She wanted to believe what her doctor said was true, but she knew something wasn’t right. Why was her belly hard to the touch?
Getting Worse
Soon after her doctor’s appointment, Keely’s condition began to escalate. Her weight continued to increase, as did the width of her stomach.
Looking Pregnant
Keely’s swelling got so bad that people began to really think she was pregnant. “Anyone would have thought I was nine months gone. It wasn’t the first time I’d been mistaken for an expectant mum…”
Insecure
Every day for Keely became a struggle. “People had seen me waddling around, carrying this lump, and I’d been asked a few times when I was due,” she said. It was so embarrassing for her to try and explain that Keely was, according to her doctor, just overweight…
Clothing Nightmare
“I’d go along with it to spare everyone’s blushes,” Keely said. “I remember trying to shop for clothes in December 2016 and nothing would fit. I was skin and bone on top, then this massive lump and normal legs. The only thing that was going to fit was maternity wear.” So what was really going on?
It Happened Again
Keely took her doctor’s advice; she kept working and living her life as best she could. Her belly continued to grow, but she tried as best she could to ignore it. Then, she was hit with another fainting spell…
Side Effect
She went back to the doctor, desperate for answers. They told her fainting was simply a side effect of her acne medication…which she hadn’t taken in sixth months.
Demanding Answers
Eventually, sick of being written off by her doctors, she pointed to her belly and asked, “Could it be anything to do with this?” The doctors wanted to test for pregnancy once again. Keely knew their efforts were fruitless, but she went along with it anyway.
Bloodwork
Her GP wanted to do another blood test for pregnancy, which, just as Keely predicted, returned negative. Then, her doctor suggested an ultrasound.
Something Wasn’t Right
Keely laid flat on her back while the radiologist moved a probe over her stomach. “I saw her eyes widen in horror but the screen was blank. The look on her face said it all. When she said she had to get a consultant I started to panic. Jamie did his best to reassure me but I felt paralyzed with fear.”
A Cyst
There on the ultrasound was a giant, black mass. Jamie and Keely were frightened beyond words. The doctor said it wasn’t a tumor, but a huge cyst. They needed to take action as soon as possible.
Emergency Scan
Keely was rushed in for an emergency CT scan. Time was of the essence... They had no idea how long Keely had before things got ugly. Her doctor revealed that Keely wasn’t overweight at all. She had a 25-centimeter-thick sac of fluid in her stomach.
Surgery
Keely was referred to a high-risk obstetrics consultant and, one month later, sat down to discuss her options. “By this time, even walking was a struggle and I had difficulty breathing,” she said.
Scary News
“I’ll never forget the look of shock on his face when the consultant examined me,” Keely said. “He said I had a large ovarian mass and the only option was surgery. He couldn’t say what it was exactly, or how big. He warned me there might be more than one and they could be attached to other organs.”
A Mystery
Keely knew that surgery was her only option. She felt like she was signing her life away. “Until they opened me up, no one knew what the would find,” she said. After all, things could be much worse than anticipated…
Under the Knife
The soonest Keely could be admitted for surgery was four weeks after her consultation. During that time, Keely’s stomach swelled another five inches. Once she was in the operating room, her surgeons thought it would only take one hour to remove the cyst…
Five Hours Later
In total, the surgery ran for five hours. The surgeons removed a cyst that weighed a whopping 60 pounds; as much as seven newborn babies. The cyst accounted for one-third of her body weight.
Life-Changing
It was only after the surgery that Keely realized how deeply the cyst had impacted her everyday life. “I lost sight of how difficult even simple things like driving a car or walking up the stairs had become,” she said. “Losing my lump gave me my life back.”
Medical Mystery
When Keely woke up from her surgery, everyone was treating her like a minor celebrity. It was then that the doctors showed her the sheer size of her cyst. She couldn’t believe she had been walking around carrying this “medical alien” inside of her…
Returning to Normal
Keely now has a 30-centimeter scar that runs from her sternum to her pelvis as a result of the procedure. Soon, she was walking around, elated to be free of the metaphorical and physical weight she had been bearing for the past few years…
Living Free
Keely lost her right ovary in the surgery, but doctors told her she can still easily become a mom. At this point in time, her biggest problem has become the appearance of her stomach. “At 28 and even though I’ve never been pregnant, I’ve been left with stretch marks!” she said. But still... she’d much rather be left with the marks than a 60-pound cyst.