CHI Memorial surgeons successfully removed a rare 34-pound tumor measuring 29 inches long from a man who said he’s feeling much better now without the mass, which had grown undetected within his abdomen for what was likely several years.
Maurice “Sonny” Swanson of McDonald, Tennessee, said he’s always been a large person, but since surgeons removed the tumor and affected tissues in September, he’s gone from weighing 403 pounds to 299 pounds.
“It’s just a miracle I’m alive,” 67-year-old Swanson said via phone Friday. “I mean, there’s no other way I can put it.”
In May, providers discovered a mass in the tissue that surrounded Swanson’s kidney behind his intestines during a CT scan related to kidney stones. Further testing revealed a rare form of cancer, a liposarcoma, which is an overgrowth of fat.