Keeley loved being called “chunky” because she adored her curvy figure. She took pride in her body, spending hours at the gym and eating healthy meals. Staying fit and strong was important to her, which was why her sudden weight gain confused and frustrated her. No matter how much she exercised or watched her diet, her body kept changing in ways she couldn’t explain.
At first, she tried to ignore it, hoping it was just a phase. But soon, she noticed something strange—her weight wasn’t spreading evenly. Only her stomach was growing, and it felt hard and tender to the touch. She watched in disbelief as she went up eight dress sizes in what felt like no time at all.
Scared and unsure, Keeley avoided going to the doctor. Growing up with a father who was a physician had made her wary of medical visits. “I’d become a bit of a medical coward,” she admitted. “Seeing a doctor wasn’t my first choice.”
With her belly swelling rapidly, fatigue setting in, and her long-term relationship with her boyfriend, Jamie, the most obvious explanation seemed to be pregnancy. The thought made them both nervous—they weren’t planning for a baby. But when Keeley took a pregnancy test, it came back negative. They assumed it was wrong and took another. Again, negative.
Confused and worried, Keeley finally went to the doctor, only to be told she was “just getting fat.” She knew that wasn’t the whole story. Something was wrong, but since she could still function day to day, she pushed her fears aside.
But her stomach didn’t stop growing. For two whole years, it expanded until she looked heavily pregnant. Strangers would smile and ask when she was due, forcing her to awkwardly explain that she wasn’t expecting—just gaining weight, according to her doctor.
Embarrassed, she started shopping in maternity stores because nothing else fit. “I was skin and bone on top, with this huge lump and normal legs,” she said. “The only clothes that worked were maternity wear.”
Then, one day at work, she collapsed. Rushed to the doctor, she was told it was just stress. No further tests. No real answers. She kept living with the discomfort until she fainted a second time. This time, the doctor blamed her acne medication—even though she’d stopped taking it months earlier.
Frustrated and desperate, Keeley sought a second opinion. When a new doctor examined her, he immediately ordered an ultrasound. As the screen flickered to life, Keeley saw the technician’s face pale. “Her eyes widened in horror,” Keeley recalled. “But the screen was blank.”
The doctor called for a consultant, and Keeley’s heart pounded. Whatever was inside her wasn’t a baby—it was something far more dangerous. A CT scan revealed the truth: a massive cyst, 25 centimeters thick, attached to her stomach.
Within a month, Keeley sat with a high-risk obstetrician, discussing surgery. “I’ll never forget the shock on his face when he examined me,” she said. The cyst was so large that the doctor couldn’t even be sure if it was one mass or multiple growths tangled with her organs.
Terrified but determined, Keeley agreed to the operation. On the day of the surgery, her stomach had grown another five inches. What was supposed to be a 90-minute procedure stretched into five grueling hours.
When she woke up, hospital staff surrounded her, showing her photos. Keeley gasped—the cyst they had removed weighed a staggering 60 pounds, the equivalent of seven newborn babies. She had been carrying around a third of her body weight inside her.
The relief was instant. “Losing that lump gave me my life back,” she said. Simple things like walking upstairs or driving had become difficult without her even realizing it. Though the surgery left her with a 30-centimeter scar from her sternum to her pelvis, and cost her one ovary, doctors assured her she could still have children if she wanted.
When her family saw her after the operation, they were stunned. “I was literally half the woman I had been,” Keeley laughed. Though she now had stretch marks from the rapid changes, she didn’t mind—they were far better than the mystery mass that had taken over her body.
Today, Keeley is just grateful to be healthy again, free from the weight that had haunted her for years
