Doctors Remove Football-Sized Tumor From Girl, 12

A 12 year-old girl has made a recovery after doctors removed a tumor from her chest the size of a football, the Daily Mail reported.

Lucy Betts, 12, could barely breathe because of the three pound tumor, which crushed her left lung against her heart.

"The tumor was absolutely enormous," said Lucy’s mother, Carmen. "It was literally the size of a human head."

Doctors initially treated the Betts for asthma until an X-ray and a CT scan revealed the malignant mass in her chest. She was diagnosed with ganglioneuroblastoma, a rare cancer in children that targets nerve tissue.

The tumor was so large that doctors had to remove two ribs and peel back her chest cavity to operate on it.

Because the tumor was so close to Betts' heart and major arteries, the surgery had to be performed by specialists.

The operation was successful, but since then doctors found a second four-inch cancerous tumor in Betts' spine. They said they are unable to operate on that tumor until her body grows more.

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