Surgeons Remove Beach Ball-Sized Tumor from Grandmother

A Newton County woman turned away by four hospitals because she didn't have insurance is recuperating after Tuesday's successful surgery to remove a painful, non-cancerous tumor that had grown to the size of a beach ball.
 
Doris Lewis, 59, told WSB TV she had been trying to get insurance since her husband died a few years ago. There was no sense of urgency until the liquid-filled tumor started growing inside her and she realized not having insurance presented a huge problem.
 
“It's getting bigger every day,” Lewis told the TV station in May. “I can feel it on my body. My heart hurts a little bit.”

Lewis said no one would do the surgery because of some miscommunication and because she didn't have insurance.
 
When the pain forced Lewis to call 911 last month, she ended up at Emory University Hospital Midtown, where a doctor told her not to worry about the cost, she would undergo surgery to have the tumor removed.

The surgeon who removed the cystic tumor told WSB the growth was attached to several of Lewis’ internal organs, including the wall of her stomach. The procedure went well, doctors said.

The growth was filled with about 28 pounds of fluid and ruptured during the procedure. 

“(We’re) very thankful and relieved. It's just so overwhelming and I'm thankful and I'm happy she was able to make it,” Lewis’ daughter Sarina told the TV station.