The mystery of woman’s 200-pound legs continues
July 8th, 2009 - 4:58 pm ICT by ANI ( 1 comment )Washington, July 8 (ANI): Doctors are still scratching their heads over a woman’s rare condition that has caused her legs to grow at an alarming rate, leaving them to weigh more than 100 pounds each.
Mandy Sellars, 34, was born with abnormally large legs and feet and doctors at the time did not have a diagnosis.
It was not until she was 2 years old that her parents were wrongly told she had lymphedema, which causes extreme swelling in arms and legs.
“When I was born, they knew straight away that there was something completely different about me. They actually didn’t let my parents see me. They took me away from my mom and I think they kept me away from my parents, particularly my mom, for about 10 days or 14 days,” Fox News quoted her as saying.
And more than 30 years later, Sellars, a single woman who lives on her own outside of Manchester, England, is still to learn the official diagnoses for the specific condition.
Some medics think she has a rare disorder called Proteus Syndrome, a condition that causes skin overgrowth and atypical bone development, often accompanied by tumours over half the body.
She said: “So at the moment it’s still really a guessing game as to exactly what this is - but Proteus Syndrome is a label I can put on it.”
Sellars, who weighs 280 pounds and drives a specially equipped car, continues to struggle with her legs that have been growing larger and larger over the years.
The brave lady has been offered amputation, but was looking for some more options.
Meanwhile, she has her mind set on just one thing.
She said: “My goal is to keep on walking as long as I can. That’s the goal from today, tomorrow, the next day, next week and next month. Obviously, having my legs amputated is quite scary… but I look at it in a way that once I have my legs amputated, it will be a new kind if life - it won’t be any better or any worse from the life I have now - it will just be a different life and a start of a new chapter.” (ANI)
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Tags: alarming rate, amputation, arms and legs, bone development, brave lady, diagnosis, different life, fox news, guessing game, legs and feet, lymphedema, manchester england, mandy sellars, medics, new chapter, rare condition, rare disorder, single woman, today tomorrow, tumours
July 8th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I saw this lady on a tv documentary a few months ago - her legs really are huge. She was considering an operation to either have at least one of them removed or considerably reduced but decided against it in the end. Not sure if she’s changed her mind now. Can’t be easy living with that - god bless her.