For years, Mary Clancey couldn’t understand why she wasn’t losing any weight.
The 71-year-old tipped the scales at more than 350 pounds. After trying dieting and exercising, she assumed that this was the way she was meant to age.
That’s when doctors discovered she wasn’t fat at all, but instead had a tumor the size of a person inside her body.
When the tumor was removed, Mary, from Saint Clair, Pennsylvania, dropped nearly 200 pounds from her frame.
And although she’s happy to be more mobile, she’s shocked doctors failed to spot it earlier.
For more than 20 years, Mary Clancey, from Saint Clair, Pennsylvania, tipped the scales at more than 350 pounds. She tried everything, but couldn’t shed the pounds. Now Mary, 71, is a healthy weight after doctors found a 140-pound tumor. Pictured before (left) and after (right)
For the better part of two decades, Mary had been trying to lose the pot belly that she had been slowly growing.
‘I was at the doctor’s and I said, “What do you think? What do I do about his pot belly?”‘ Mary told WFMZ.
‘He said, “Just watch your diet and take care”.’
Mary ate more salads, tried walking more and every gimmick she could think of.
‘I tried everything I saw on television. I bought lipozine, hydroxycut,’ she said.
‘I just slowly kept getting a bigger potbelly.
‘I was filling out and I guess after 16 years of a pot belly, I started to become chubbier, so I thought I was becoming a little old fat lady.’
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Then, in November 2016, Mary developed blood clots in her legs and was sent to the hospital.
Doctors believed her weight was to blame and ordered an MRI. After being put through testing, they found her problem was something far more surprising than weight gain.
A cyst in one of her ovaries had grown into a 140-pound stage one cancer tumor – the size of a human being.
Doctors told Mary a cyst in her ovaries and developed into a huge stage one cancer tumor. In a five-hour surgery at Lehigh Valley Hospital, doctors removed the tumor, 40 pounds of excess skin and repaired Mary’s abdomen
Mary told FOX 6: ‘I was so shocked when they told me.
‘The first thing I thought was Sigourney Weaver with the Alien.
‘I was so scared. I thought, “What could this be then?”‘
In a five-hour surgery at Lehigh Valley Hospital, in Allentown, doctors carefully removed the 140-pound ovarian cyst, 40 pounds of excess skin and did repair work on her abdomen.
Mary’s weight dropped from more than 350 pounds to just a tad under 150, shedding more than 200 pounds.
The 71-year-old said although she’s happy to be more mobile, she still can’t believe the weight loss and, that after she came home from surgery, she felt strange.
Although Mary said she is happy to be more mobile, she said she felt strange following the surgery, saying: ‘I guess I was so used to carrying that weight that I felt totally different’
Now weighing 147 pounds, Mary plans to sell her old clothes so she can buy new ones and is looking forward to tending her garden in the spring
‘For four days after that surgery, I can’t describe it. It felt like something was empty,’ Mary said.
‘My body didn’t feel right. I guess I was so used to carrying that weight that I felt totally different.’
Mary has since gained 10 more pounds, now weighing 147 pounds, and joked, ‘Hopefully, I’ll get curvy. I’ll be one hot babe eventually’.
She said she intends to sell her old clothes and buy new ones and says she looks forward to being able to tend to her garden much more easily once spring rolls around.