Hospital saves 'miracle baby' with tumour double her body size

A baby girl born with a tumour double her size is being called a "miracle" by doctors.

Saylor Thomson was born at Mater Mothers’ Hospital in Brisbane, Australia in August weighing only 1,025 grams (2.2 lbs) at three months premature.

Attached to Thomson's tailbone was a two-kilogram (four lb) sacrococcygeal teratoma tumour.

Minutes after being born, Thomson was rushed into surgery where a team of 25 people worked to successfully remove the tumour for six hours.

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“Saylor’s tumour was extremely large and very complex. The tumor extended into her pelvis and abdomen," Professor Saliesh Kumar from Mater's maternal fetal medicine unit said.

Professor Kumar said the tumour was the largest ever removed at Mater Mother's Hospital.

But two months after the surgery, doctors are happy to report that Thomson has made a "fantastic" recovery and is growing stronger every day.

Doctors successfully removed a tumour weighing twice as much as a baby girl in Australia Mater Hospital

Sacrococcygeal teratomas are the most common tumours found in newborns affecting every one in 400,000 live births. They develop during gestation and typically grow on the baby's lower back near the tailbone.

“We don’t know why the tumour grows, but it arises from embryonic germ cells and is four times more likely to occur in female infants,” Professor Kumar said.

When parents Rachel and Kieran Thomson found out about their daughter's tumor at 20 weeks they were told she had 25 to 40 percent survival rate.

"When the social worker and surgeons first gathered to tell us she had little chance of making it due to prematurity and the tumour, I cried hysterically," Rachel Thomson said.

“But being able to hold Saylor in my arms and know she has come through the other side is something special."

The Thomson's wanted to share their daughter's success story in honor of World Prematurity Day on 7 November.

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