Man gets tumor the size of a watermelon removed from back

By Amy Reast via SWNS

A dad can finally sleep on his back for the first time in 15 years after doctors removed an 11-pound tumor the size of a watermelon.

Fidisoa, 53, noticed a small spot on his back in 2009 which grew over time into a lump the size of a fist.

Over the next 15 years it continued to grow until Fidisoa looked as if he was carrying a backpack underneath his shirt.

The dad-of-three spent his life savings getting the painful tumor removed in three surgeries but it just regrew.

He was losing hope until he heard international charity Mercy Ships was offering free surgery on hospital ship the Africa Mercy.

On June 7, Fidisoa went under the knife and doctors removed the vast 5kg benign mass in a four-hour surgery.

Fidisoa is looking forward to returning to work on the farm without facing constant back pain.

The builder and farmer from Madagascar, said: "I look forward to getting back to work immediately on the farm where I grow rice.

"I intend to fix an old motorbike I have back home and use that to supply sacks of rice to my customers."

Fidisoa struggled to do the high level of manual labor required by his livelihood and laying down on his back was painful for him.

He paid for three surgeries in 2015, 2018 and 2021, which used up all 6,900,000 Madagascan Ariary (around $1,185) of his life savings.

In order to pay for his third surgery in 2021, Fidisoa took on a new contract abroad to raise the final funds he needed – all of which was spent on the treatment.

But the dad was disappointed when nothing worked and he was fast losing hope.

He had to continue working to support his children - aged five, 22 and 25 - despite the pain the tumor caused him.

Hope finally came when he learned Africa Mercy was docked in Madagascar, and he went to see the volunteer medical team on board.

He ended up being booked in for a huge surgery to remove the tumor on June 7 - the day after his 53rd birthday.

The dad said: "This is like the best birthday gift I have ever received.

"The nurses here were so kind and even sang a happy birthday song for me."

He came out of the procedure to find his wife, daughter and sister waiting for him.

Dr. Tertius Venter, a volunteer reconstructive plastics surgeon from South Africa, was among the team who operated on Fidisoa in a procedure called a back hibernoma excision.

He said the benign tumor - a soft lobular fibroma - was now gone for good and wouldn't grow back as it previously had done, because all the abnormal tissue had been removed.

Dr. Venter said: "In his case, we spent quite a lot of time because the abnormal tissue had also infiltrated into his muscles.

"We had to go thoroughly and find every bit and remove it as far we could. We have removed it completely now."

Fidisoa said his family were "amazed at how different I looked".

Finally free from the weight he had long carried, Fidisoa would now be able to live a normal life.

He said: “Thank you to all the loving, humble people at Mercy Ships and to everyone who made this possible.”

Over the course of previous visits to Madagascar, Mercy Ships collaborated with the government and the Ministry of Health to provide more than 6,425 life-changing surgical procedures and over 52,395 dental procedures.

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