X-Ray shows “stone baby” inside body of 81-year-old woman

An 81-year-old woman has died in Brazil after a shocking discovery was made. Daniela Vera had been carrying around a calcified fetus for at least 56 years. Vera, an indigenous woman, had been experiencing abdominal pain, but was reluctant to visit a doctor and preferred to be treated with traditional medicine. The pain eventually got bad enough that she went to a primary care unit and was treated for a urinary infection, with doctors failing to discover the fetus. That was on March 10.

The next day, she went in for additional treatment at Ponta Porä Regional Hospital, where they did 3D imaging and diagnosed her with lithopedion, which is a rare side effect of ectopic pregnancy in which the fetus dies during pregnancy and the body calcifies it over time in the abdominal cavity rather than absorbing it. After the discovery, Vera was taken in for surgery to remove the fetus on March 14. She died in intensive care the following day. The doctor who oversees the health department for the hospital, Dr. Patrick Dezir, said the death was due to infection.

Medical experts concluded that Vera had been carrying around the dead fetus for about 56 years. Vera had seven children and 40 grandchildren. Vera’s youngest daughter, 21-year-old Rosely Almeida, said her mother had complained of discomfort in the abdomen ever since her first pregnancy, saying she “felt like a baby was moving around inside her belly”. It could be that the fetus had been inside Vera for even longer than the 56 years that doctors estimated.

“We’re are in a state of shock,” said Almeida. “There’s a lot of sadness. She was our mom and the only one who protected people and now she’s gone and we feel lost.”

More tests have been ordered to study the calcified fetus and learn more about it.