Estela Meléndez had been through a lot. Her husband passed away, and she hadn't been feeling well. After suffering a fall, Estela was rushed to the nearest hospital only to find out that she had been pregnant for over 60 years.
The doctors were speechless after performing an x-ray on her. The elderly woman was carrying a baby!
Estela Meléndez
Estela Meléndez and her spouse Manuel González had been married for 74 years. It was love at first sight for both of them. They lived in a small Pacific coastal community in Chile, a few hours away from Santiago.
Sadly, they weren't able to have children.
A Strange Lump
"We suffered tremendously because of this," Estella recalls. She had no idea that she was pregnant all this time.
Estela had a strange lump in her abdomen for years, but the doctors assured her it was a benign tumor and was nothing to worry about.
They Were Inseparable
Estela and her husband found both love and friendship and each other, which made a lot of people jealous of them. Even though they didn't have a lot of money, Manuel always made sure that they had food on the table.
In 2015, Estela's life turned upside down, and she found herself alone and helpless.
A Difficult Year
2015 was a challenging year for Estela. Her husband of 74 years had passed away at the age of 91, and she was suddenly alone.
Since Estela was only one year younger than him, she struggled with taking care of the house on her own. But, soon, she would stumble upon a life-changing discovery.
She Was Devastated
Estela spent most of her life with her soulmate by her side, and now she was all alone. The pain she felt after her husband's passing was unbearable.
Until that day, no one except for the couple knew that they were drowning in regret over one thing they could never accomplish.
They Couldn't Have Children
Estela and Manuel always wanted to have children, but the doctors told them that Estela wasn't able to conceive and get pregnant. No one knew the reason behind her infertility, but Estela figured it had to do something with the tumor she discovered in her uterus.
It wasn't until Estela went to the hospital that she realized the tumor would be the least of her worries.
After Her Husband's Passing
After Manuel passed away, Estela started having problems with her health. Her hearing was getting worse, and she also developed a severe case of arthritis.
A few days after her 91st birthday, Estela would find herself in a critical situation.
She Fell Down
One day, while cleaning the house, Estella tripped and fell down. Fortunately, she didn't suffer any permanent damage but wanted to visit her doctor just in case.
The only problem was that the hospital was far away and she couldn’t get there on her own.
She Made An Appointment
Estela was aware that her body was slowly giving up, and doing simple tasks around the home was becoming more and more difficult for her. So, she decided to make an appointment with her family doctor.
She had no idea that the disaster was just around the corner.
40-Mile Journey
Since the Claudio Vicuña hospital in San Antonio was more than 40 miles away, Estella asked her friend to drive her.
The doctor feared Estela suffered damage from a fall and ordered a full-body x-ray. Little did he know that he would discover something astonishing in her belly.
Performing an X-Ray
In the beginning, the doctors were mainly looking at her second tumor. Estela wasn't surprised to hear about the new tumor, as she had cancer in the '80s.
The doctors wanted to make sure the second tumor was benign and performed another x-ray. That's when they came across something strange.
It Wasn't A Tumor
They realized that it wasn't a tumor after all. The lump Estela had in her stomach was something much more severe. The doctors couldn't believe their eyes as they carefully analyzed her x-ray.
What they were about to tell Estela would change her life.
She Was Pregnant
The woman was technically pregnant. What she thought was a lump in her uterus was actually a long-deceased fetus.
Estela broke into tears when she learned about her pregnancy. Although the biggest shock came when the doctors realized how long she had been pregnant for.
Pregnant For 60 Years
It turns out that she had been pregnant for 60 years. Estela's relatives were shocked to the core.
"Can you imagine? More than 60 years!" said Luis Meléndez, her nephew. "I wonder how she never felt bad once the fetus died inside of her."
In Shock
The fetus weighed around 2 kilograms! While many were shocked by her story, as it turns out, Estela wasn't the only one who suffered from this rare condition.
Hundreds of women across the globe found themselves in the same situation after discovering they had a "stone baby" inside.
Mysterious Condition
This mysterious condition can cause severe damage to the woman's health. The doctors didn't know what to do with the 60-year-old fetus in Estela's body.
They wanted to operate her, but there was only one problem: Estela was too old.
Lithopedion
The condition Estela had is called lithopedion, and these fetuses are known as lithopedions. Fortunately, lithopedion only affects a small percentage of women.
Estela was devastated, to say the least. All this time, she was unknowingly pregnant. As she later learned, this condition posed a severe threat to her health.
A Serious Threat
Lithopedions can result in the death of both mother and child. Although if the fetus is tiny, the woman's body can absorb it.
However, this wasn't the case for Estela. Her condition shocked the doctors to the core. They hadn't seen something like this in decades.
"Stone Baby"
If the fetus is too big, the woman's body won't be able to absorb it, and it will calcify in her uterus. These "stone babies" are then surgically removed.
Unfortunately, Estela couldn't have the surgery to remove the baby. The doctors determined operating a 91-year-old woman was riskier than leaving the fetus inside.
Thinking Of Her Husband
Estela said she didn't mind carrying the fetus as it reminded her of her husband and their unfulfilled dream of having a child.
She couldn't believe that their biggest dream was under their noses for 60 years, and she never suspected of being pregnant. However, not being able to conceive took a toll on her mental health.
She Wanted Children So Bad
Estela spent her whole life thinking she wasn't enough. She watched her siblings and friends have children; meanwhile, she remained childless no matter how hard she tried to get pregnant.
So, when Estela learned that she had been pregnant for 60 years, she couldn't just go back to her ordinary quiet life. What did she do?
Going Viral
Learning that you had been carrying a child for several decades isn't something you can easily forget about. Estela's story quickly spread to an international level, shocking millions of people.
Many wanted to hear more about Estala's story, and soon, she found herself in the center of attention.
Getting In Touch
CNN, BC, NBC, and The Washington Post all went to Chile to learn more about her story.
While most people expected Estela to be grieving over the loss of her unborn child and husband, her reaction caught them completely off guard.
She Was Calm
When everyone first heard Estela's story, they assumed she would be heartbroken and devastated. After all, she had just lost her husband, and now there was a 60-year-old fetus inside of her that she couldn't remove.
However, Estela was calm and relaxed as she sat in front of the cameras in her small home.
During The Interview
Estela greeted the interviewers with a warm smile and asked them to come inside. She spoke in a calm and neutral tone, which was unusual for someone who had lived through a series of tragic events.
Despite the tragedy, Estela was a tough woman with a positive mindset.
Difficult Life
Just listening to Estela's story left many people saddened. "That's so sad. It might have actually given her husband a little joy had they found out earlier," said one woman named Julie.
"I guess one way of looking at it is they did have a child, and she carried it around with her for 60+ years," Julie continued.
Carrying A Part Of Her Late Husband
"And now, since they won't remove it, she still has a part of him with her. In an unusual sort of way," she said.
Estella will have to carry the fetus for the rest of her life, but she isn't bothered by it. But what did other people think of her situation?
A Similar Incident
While some people sympathized with Estela, others found her story relatable.
A woman named Lauren Pearl commented on her story, explaining how her sister also had a stone baby in her uterus. "This happened to my sister. She had no idea until she was pregnant with my niece," she explained.
Her Condition Isn't Super Uncommon
It was her own twin. As crazy as it sounds, it isn't super uncommon. Most people just never know. She had complications which revealed it," Lauren continued.
With that said, many people are hoping Estela is feeling better these days. So what is she up to now?
In The Center of Attention
Estela could've never imaged that her story would blow up, leaving her in the center of media attention over her rare condition.
Usually, people get their moment in the sun much earlier on in life, but for Estella, this moment happened when she was 91 years old. How does she feel about that?
Estela Today
It's been a few years since her name appeared in the headlines of major newspapers and news websites. Estela is still living in her small Chilean seaside community.
As it turns out, her condition is super rare.
Only 300 Cases
Only 300 other women worldwide had suffered from lithopedion. In 2013, a woman from Colombia also discovered she had a "stone baby" during an x-ray.
She had chronic pain in her abdomen and wanted to treat the cause.
Another Case of Lithopedion
The elderly woman had been suffering from severe pelvic pain for years and decided to make an appointment with her doctor.
They performed several scans and tests only to discover that she had been carrying a 40-year-old fetus. Worst of all, the fetus was formed in her abdomen and not the uterus.
40-Year-Old Fetus
The 82-year-old woman was shocked to the core after the doctors informed her of her diagnosis. She had no idea that she was carrying a 40-year-old fetus.
Her body couldn't push out the fetus, so it calcified. In 2019, a woman from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, also discovered that she had been carrying a stone baby for 22 years.
Back In 1554
Both of these women went under surgery to remove the calcified fetus. However, one of the first cases of lithopedion was recorded in 1554 in Sens, France.
Colombe Charti was pregnant with her first baby and carried the fetus close to term.
Strange Pain
Unfortunately, something went wrong, and her contractions stopped. Charti's baby was never born.
For several years after the incident, she suffered from strange pain in her abdomen. Some people believed the baby was still inside her. And as it turned out, they were right.
The Surgery
After Charti passed away 28 years later, her partner asked surgeons to autopsy her body to find out the truth.
The surgeons found a roughly ovoid object inside the woman, which they believed was a tumor. However, when they broke through the outer shell, they discovered the horrifying truth.
It Was A Baby
They found a fetus with two arms, legs and feet, knees, shoulders, and one tooth. It was a female with a full head of hair.
Lithopedion can remain in the woman's body for the rest of her life and cause pain in her abdomen.
It's Becoming More Uncommon
Only 2 percent of pregnancies in which the fetus grows outside of the fallopian tubes and uterus result in lithopedions.
With the improvement of prenatal care, lithopedions are becoming more and more uncommon.