200-Pound Tumor Removed in Surgery
CHICAGO — A woman who lost two-thirds of her inflated body weight when doctors removed a nearly 200-pound benign tumor was in fair condition Thursday, still needing extensive skin grafts, hospital officials said.
It took surgeons at the University of Chicago Hospital 18 hours to remove the neurofibroma from Lori Hoogewind, 40, on Dec. 14.
Hoogewind suffers from neurofibromatosis, an incurable inherited disorder also known as Recklinghausen’s disease, which is sometimes called Elephant Man’s disease after the disfigured 19th century Englishman Joseph Merrick.
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