A 12-year-old girl with a growing stomach was taunted by her classmates for looking pregnant but it turned out the adolescent had a 19-pound tumor growing near her stomach.
Janet Roberts said middle schoolers at her daughter's school in Jacksonville, Florida, began gossiping over the summer that her daughter was expecting a baby, when the girl's stomach started to expand.
But after multiple denials and several negative pregnancy tests, doctors discovered the girl instead had a 19-pound benign tumor growing inside of her.
WARNING: Graphic pictures.
Massive: The 12-year-old unnamed girl (left) is pictured at her normal weight but her stomach began expanding (right) as the tumor grew inside her body
Recovering: The 12-year-old, centered pictured with her two sisters, is recovering after the physical ordeal but needs counseling after the emotional experience
'I was in shock,' Roberts told the First Coast News on Thursday about hearing reports from officials at her daughter's school about the girl, who has not been named, looking pregnant this summer.
'To me it was a joke at first.'
The girl was bullied because of the gossip and the mother had the girl take a pregnancy test to make sure. The test came back negative.
Revealed: Doctors removed this 19-pound tumor from the girl's body
But the girl's stomach continued to grow and again the mother had the girl take another pregnancy test.
'I tested her every two weeks and it was negative, then I said 'if you're not pregnant something is going on here.''
In August, the girl celebrated her 12th birthday and her expanding stomach made it appear that she was five months pregnant.
Roberts, the mother of four daughters, took the girl to the doctor and they discovered a massive tumor inhabiting the girl's body.
She was rushed to the Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville for emergency surgery to remove the growth.
'Because of her size, they had to drain two liter bottle of it before they could pull it out of her,' the mother explained. Though the tumor has been extracted, doctors fear it could reappear.
In addition to the medical concern, Roberts said her daughter is struggling to move past the emotional impact of the experience.
'She has a hard time dealing with what happen to her. She's writing notes about what happened and how the people treated her,' Roberts said.
Operation: The Florida girl had the 19-pound tumor removed after being teased fro being 'pregnant' by classmates
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2247810/12-year-old-accused-pregnant-massive-19-pound-tumor-growing-near-stomach.html#ixzz2F2wcJOwH
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