Respite has come the way of a man who couldn’t walk no thanks to a tumour that weighed more than he did. The massive 55kg malignant tumour weighed close to 1.5 times the body weight of Gurmeet Singh, 26, and is the largest in the history of medical science.
It was removed from his thigh after a four-hour surgery by the doctors of Max Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi. Doctors had to amputate Gurmeet’s entire right leg and part of his pelvis But the young man, who was bed-ridden for four years, is glad he can now walk with the help of a walker.
He said:
“I was completely immobile and restricted to bed for four years. I was not even able to rest on my back and had stopped sitting two years ago as the weight of the tumour was too heavy. I could not even roll over or change sides because of it. But now that I have got rid of it, I am extremely happy and cannot wait to stand, even though with a support.”
Gurmeet felt an inflammation in his leg four years ago, three years ago, a biopsy confirmed it was cancer. He couldn’t get proper treatment from doctors in his native Punjab province so he was taken to Max hospital for the surgery.
Dr Durgatosh Pandey, a senior consultant in surgical oncology at the hospital said: “It is nothing less than a miracle that despite having a malignant tumour for eight years, he is still alive. When he was brought to us, the tumour was extremely big and it was bleeding. There were ulcerations and infection. “Each step in the surgery was challenging and fraught with risks. To remove it completely, we had to amputate the entire right lower limb and along with that a part of the pelvic bone was also removed.”
“We were surprised to found the weight of the tumour had surpassed the body weight. It is probably the largest malignant tumour ever removed in the world.”
Gurmeet is now able to walk with the help of a stretcher and doctors are hoping that a magnetic prosthetic leg could be fixed soon.
