WTF Stories of the Week

[Kevy Baby]

Woman has 140-pound tumor removed
Oregon mom was told for years she had to lose weight, but she couldn’t

REDMOND, Ore. - Throughout her life, Linda Rittenbach has struggled with her weight.

“You get bigger and bigger and bigger,” said Rittenbach, who has two grown children. “And then you go to your doctor and they tell you, ‘You need to lose weight — you’re fat!’”

Rittenbach had tried every diet, every workout, but the pounds wouldn’t go away. Doctors suggested weight loss surgery.

“But something in my head just said, ‘No, don’t do that,’” Rittenbach said last week.

It wasn’t until Rittenbach went to a different doctor this spring for flu-like symptoms that she found out what was really wrong.

Doctors told her a 140-pound cancerous tumor — a rare kind of liposcarcoma — was growing near her stomach. They said it had likely been growing for 15 to 20 years.

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