The Californian was teased for "belly of beer". It turned out to be a 77-pound cancerous tumor.

Lindsey Bever, The Washington Post

Publication

2:48 PM PST, Tuesday 27 November 2018

It seemed like every book was going straight to the belly.

Hector Hernandez said that he had always been "a big guy", so he did not notice a problem A few years ago, when his arms and legs began to shrink, as his belly grew bigger

This 47-year-old man from Downey, California, said that he had also started fighting stomach burns and constipation. sometimes he had trouble catching his breath.

At £ 300, strangers had begun to watch, and friends were making jokes about his "beer belly", even though he said he rarely drank.

When he first talked about the problem to a doctor, the doctor dismissed him, telling him that some people were carrying a different weight than the others.

"I just thought I was fat," Hernandez said in a phone. Tuesday interview with the Washington Post.

But Hernandez said that his stomach kept feeling "heavy" and "hard" to the touch, so he got a second opinion.

In the end, he would have been diagnosed with retro-peritoneal liposarcoma, a rare but cancerous tumor that forms in fat cells, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Doctors do not know when the tumor started to develop.

Or why?

But, according to her surgeon, she weighed 77 pounds.

Hernandez said that he did not know how to feel about the tumor or the surgery was necessary to remove it.

At first he was "shocked" and "confused" but also relieved that he finally knew what was wrong.

"I had a lot of support and prayers from my family and friends," he said, pointing out that they were raising money to help his recovery. "I finally left it in the hands of God."

William Tseng, a surgeon at Hernandez, an oncologist and badistant professor at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, said that liposarcomas grew over time and could reach enormous heights. they do not tend to spread or cause major problems. Tseng, a Sarcoma specialist, said that throughout his career, he had surgically removed several tens of them, weighing on average between 20 and 30 pounds.

"It's probably the biggest I've removed," he told The Post. , speaking of the tumor of Hernandez.

During an hour of surgery this summer, Tseng removed the tumor, which he said had preserved the main blood vessels and most of Hernandez's organs, although he had to cut a damaged kidney. Tseng said that bleeding is the biggest risk badociated with surgery and that patients may die on the operation table, but that there has been no complication in the case of ## 147 ## 39; Hernandez.

The surgeon stated that Hernandez would not need to undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy, but because of liposarcomas. Hernandez often has to periodically pbad follow-up exams to monitor the situation.

"I was really lucky," Hernandez said.

Hernandez stated that he felt "totally different" – more energetic and full of books. lighter.