Presenting Health Problems
For anyone who makes it to 91, it is normal to suffer from health problems. Unfortunately, Estela Meléndez wasn’t the exception for this.
Reaching this advanced age, having lost her husband recently, Estela had a decline in her health that was at its peak when something terrible happened.
A fall that scared her
After suffering from a fall, Estela and her loved ones were beyond scared that she might have internal injuries, which is why she was immediately taken to the nearest hospital.
This scary scenario made her visit the doctors to get X-rays and to verify everything was fine, but what they found was unexpected, to say the least.
Meet Estela and Manuel
Estela Meléndez and her husband Manuel González lived together what a lot of people would call a dream life. They are from a tiny coastal community in Chile, called La Boca, several hours far from the capital and nearest city Santiago de Chile.
Gonzalez made a living as a fisherman, and it was for them a blessing to leave near the beach, although not everything was as perfect as it seems
Their life and regrets
Mrs. Gonzalez’s work always manages to provide food and basic needs for them to live a humble life but without deficiencies. For 74 years they had the pleasure of walking life together, and one of Estela´s regrets looking back on her marriage was that they were unable to have children.
"We suffered tremendously because of this reason," Meléndez said; what she was not expecting was the major discovery that the doctors will make in her routine checking.
2015
For Estela, 2015 started as a difficult year emotionally: She woke up one day in January to find that Manuel had passed away peacefully by her side during the night.
This scenario is especially harsh for a person who lived alongside another for 74 years. Especially getting used to living in the home they shared without his company, cooking just for her, and also at an advanced age: 90 years (only one younger than him), definitely put her mettle to the test. And more so with what the doctors found out on her X-ray exam.
Hard to loose
Reaching old age is always hard, especially for couples who manage to reach such advanced ages together, being used to their soulmate backfires when the first one passes away, and it’s only up to the imagination how much it affected Estela’s life and well-being.
This is when something incredible will come to her life, no one expected was about to happen!
Looking Back
Being alone most of the day, and having the time to think about the past, Estela had the time to think about her marriage, hopes, and regrets. When interviewed she said that one of the things that saddened her the most was that she wasn’t able to conceive and get pregnant.
It was very painful for the couple to know that they wouldn’t be able to have kids or grow their family, and the reason always remained a mystery until now …
Decadent Health
As a normal response to her advanced age, Estela began to show a deterioration in her health. A couple of years before Manuel's death, she discovered that she had a tumor in her uterus.
And after the death of her husband, she began to present multiple medical problems, her main problems were concerning her hearing, arthritis, and decreasing mobility, however, all this would soon become the least of her worries
91 years and a big scare
Turning 91 for most people is a dream they won't be able to fulfill and for those who do, they are likely to have many health setbacks. Estela wasn’t the exception for these, and things turned harder when she fell while tending to her home.
After the fall, there weren’t any physical consequences that she could see, but surely she was scared that something happened internally, which is why she took a quick choice and decided to change her life.
A Call for help
The elderly woman quickly called one of her closest friends and asked for a ride to the Claudio Vicuña hospital, she wanted to know that everything was fine because doing the most basic tasks was asking her for a lot of effort.
Her friend accepted and accompanied her on a trip that would end in a crazy discovery for everyone.
Trip for health
Estela and her friend took a journey of more than 40 miles to get to the doctor, and after getting there the medic was concerned about internal injuries and ran a full-body x-ray exam.
The staff hoped the results were nothing serious, her body might not withstand deep damage, although they certainly didn't expect to see something so impressive.
Another tumor? Better look closer
In 1980 Estela suffered from cancer, and tumors weren’t new to her. At first glance, the medical practitioners thought they were looking in the X-rays to a new tumor, but it had something odd that made the head doctor decide to perform a second X-ray.Another tumor? Better look closer
After they got them, they were super astonished by the results and about being so wrong about her condition.
The discovery
After carefully reviewing the exam results, the medical team came to several conclusions: Firstly, Estela never had a tumor in the first place.
She was carrying was not only rare but difficult for doctors in the past to diagnose, which is why they made multiple tests and were shocked by the results. No one believed what they were about to reveal!
This was not what she expected!
Estela happened to be pregnant, you might think that’s impossible for someone her age to get pregnant, and it is. She was carrying a long-deceased fetus that was previously mistaken as a tumor in her early years.
The biggest surprise was when they determined how long it had been inside her.
60 Years!
After doing a few more tests and analyzing the fetus, the doctors came to the conclusion that the fetus had about 60 years inside her, and was the reason she wasn’t able to have kids or form a family.
The news was surprising and extremely hard for Estela, her emotions were a total mess, and her preoccupation with what might happen now hit her, especially with what the doctors said after.
La Boca couldn't believe it
Estela’s story had been terrifying for her doctors and many people around La Boca, it was the first time something like that happened in a small town like that, or at least the first time a lot of residents heard about it. People were not only scared but felt close and were supportive of her.
Something still remained a mystery, how was she able to carry a fetus inside her all these years? What she didn’t know was that another surprising news was waiting for her.
Mysterious condition
The doctors made a diagnose: she had Lithopedion, a condition that affects a small group of women in the world, and was extremely hard to survive if it’s not treated correctly, as happened to Mrs. Melendez after over 60 years of carrying a lithopedion inside her.
Lithopedion is a condition that presents a woman whose fetuses begin to develop outside of her womb. Those fetuses are named “stone babies”, but what are the risks of having it for over 60 years?
Lifetime risk
A lithopedion or stone baby represents a deadly risk for both the mother and child if they don’t being under observation and medicated quickly, which obviously didn’t happen in Estela’s case.
This is why Estela having it for over 60 years could lead to horrible consequences, and the strange approach the doctors decided to use with her was barely seen in modern medicine. What the doctors did amazed everyone!
An important decision had to be taken
If the fetus is undeveloped it can be absorbed by the mother’s body, but it wasn’t Estela’s case. When the fetus is not absorbed, it calcifies in the uterus and the only option to remove it is by surgery. The doctors then wondered, was is the best option for her considering her advanced age?
The clinicians made a breaking discovery about her case and proceeded to tell her and her companions the news that no one could believe...
She is strong!
The principal conclusion the doctors made was that Estela was too old and might not survive from the surgery, in her case, the best option was to leave the stone baby inside her.
Most people would see this situation as extremely sad and discouraging, but Estela’s way to face up to it left everyone without believing their eyes!
Positive trough difficulties
Even when the medical personnel only gave her bad news, the deadly risk associated with her condition, the late discovery of her situation, and the surgery difficulties, Estela had a powerful inner strength and she managed to see the light in her situation.
She also felt strangely connected to her recently-gone husband and this gave her hope. Estela and Manuel’s biggest dream was always about to come true, and they weren't able to find it our on time, or solve it. Facing this news by herself was rough, but it helped her to fight to something even bigger!
The light in this story
She always felt like she was less of a woman because she couldn't have children, and never got to know why. It was the main issue of her marriage and one of the biggest saddens of her life. When you feel awful about something that you really didn’t understand for the majority of your life and it comes to an end, you get to have an answer, the load is released, and you can also feel better.
Now that she felt also some kind of release after this revelation, she did something crazy that definitely changed her life.
Breaking news!
The news spread quickly in Chile and all over the world, as Estela's story became viral because of its uniqueness, she couldn't ignore the relevance she was getting over the news, and everyone was intrigued and wanted to know the complete story about this special elder woman.
Almost immediately, Estela was the focus of international relevant media, who were rushing to fly to Chile, she got to be on The Washington Post, CNN, and NBC, where she revealed something that caught even more people attention!
Stronger
When she was introducing herself to the world, the people found a different woman than what they expected based on the information they had about her case, and what they assumed. She demonstrated to be something much more than a woman who lost much!
After her tragic events, she showed the world her best state of mind, being calm, elegant looking, and attentive to the interview. And then something that blew everyone’s minds happened...
Experiencing hardships
The world was shocked after hearing the entire story, it was unbelievable for most of the people, and the support she received initially was super touching and demonstrated how there is still kindness in the world when it comes to stories of loss like this one.
Mostly everyone was touched, some people joined the public opinion to solace Estela, and others for something completely different.
It doesn’t look uncommon
Her story also helped other women to come out and talk about their stories and similar experiences. Even though it isn't a common condition, it is something that happens enough for people, families, and women to suffer from it, and it was more than inspiring for, not only the comments but the support received.
Even when there were other incredibly hard stories, one stood: an impressive and revealing story that left everyone with much to think about...
Another touching story
A young woman called Lauren Pearl shared her sister’s experience. She wrote “This happened to my sister. She had no idea until she was pregnant with my niece. 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.”
It makes you think about misdiagnoses, and how uncommon this condition really is...
The center of a media outburst
Regarding Estela, she could never have imagined she would be around 90 years old and being at the focus of the media as she experienced after her story was shared. Most of the people never have 15 minutes on a local media outburst or never have a chance to even be on the news.
Being viral is crazy, it is an emotional rollercoaster for who gets to experience it, and a life goal for most. And what Stela did with her acquired fame is shocking for most people.
Off the media
Due to a strange medical condition and suffer many times, Estela Melendez had her moment of glory. After being exposed in the press, she kept her daily life routines and managed to stay quiet and steer clear of headlines!
Even with a special story like this, her peace of mind was more relevant, even when the medical guild had something to say.
Colombian Lithopedion
Having occurred 300 times in medical literature, it is not only a rare case but a great study opportunity for the medical field. Even when it seems to exist other similar cases in the world like a Colombian elderly woman who had her own stone fetus for over 40 years!
It makes you think, is it really that uncommon? Or are people just unaware of this condition?