A teenage girl has undergone life-saving surgery to remove a cyst from her ovary – which weighed as much as a five-year-old.
Khalida Akhter, 18, suffered from chronic stomach pain before the emergency procedure to remove the 21kg growth.
Doctors initially believed she was suffering a gastric problem but had to act as the pain intensified over a six-month period.
As the pain grew so did the size of her stomach, which left her looking pregnant as well as keeping her bed bound.
Doctors holding the 22 kg ovarian cyst removed from Khalida Akhter
Doctors holding the 21kg ovarian cyst removed from Khalida Akhter (Photo: Barcroft)
Mumtaz Ahmad Khan sits with his daughter Khalida Akhter, 18, after the surgery at the Mirza Mohd
Mumtaz Ahmad Khan sits with his daughter Khalida Akhter, 18, after the surgery at the hospital (Photo: Barcroft)
Mumtaz Ahmad Khan sits with his daughter Khalida Akhter, 18, after the surgery
Khalida Akhter, 18, said she felt more and more pain before her surgery (Photo: Barcroft)
She said: “When it started I lost my appetite whenever I ate, I used to vomit, my hands and feet swelled.
“I felt more and more pain, my abdomen was the size of a pregnant woman.”
The student was forced to drop out of school due to the pain and swelling.
“I stopped going to school because my legs and arms had lots of pain, I couldn’t write anything,” she added.
Doctors holding the 22 kg ovarian cyst removed from Khalida Akhter
Doctors holding the 21 kg ovarian cyst removed from Khalida (Photo: Barcroft)
As Khalida, from Kashmir, India, became more secluded, rumours of her health began to circulate around her small village as locals began to believe she was pregnant or cursed.
Khalida said: “We went to a saint for a cure, as people said that I was cursed with some evil eye.”
Fearing the worst, Khalida’s parents travelled with their daughter to the nearest hospital in the area and begged medical staff to help them.
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