Look away if you’re squeamish – our bodies are capable of creating macabre structures when our cells go awry, and this lump of bone, hair and teeth is just one of themMaking the weird news last week was Yamini Karanam, who underwent surgery in Los Angeles after being diagnosed with a brain tumour. The benign lump became a sensation when it turned out to be a grotesque growth containing bone, hair and teeth. Known to medical science as a teratoma (from the Greek for “monstrous tumour”), news wires quoted Karanam’s post-surgical joke that it was her “evil twin sister” who’d been torturing her.Her sentiment was understandable – the condition must have been torturous for the 26-year-old student who had moved from Cyberabad, India, to Indiana to pursue her doctorate in computer science. The headaches and confusion that worsened as the tumour grew were compounded by her inability to afford the surgery. Happily, after a massive fundraising effort by well-wishers and the removal of the growth, Karanam seems back on track, and, as her GiveForward page now announces in a celebratory tone: “After successful surgery Yamini found her twin.”As with most cancers, Yamini's torturer was likely of her own flesh, initiated by a tiny, terrible misunderstanding Related: There are no human actions to blame for most cancers. What we need is courage and grace | Editorial Continue reading...
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