A baby born with a cyst the size of a football under his arm can now crawl for the first time after successfully having it removed.
Mum Christina DiMartino, 34, was told her unborn son, Matteo, had an abnormally large mass located across his chest and left arm – which covered up to 50 percent of his body – after going for a routine scan at 13 weeks.
The baby was found to have a rare lymphatic malformation and medics warned he had just a nine percent chance of making it to birth.
Trends, culture and exclusive features:
First-time parents Christina and her electrician husband, Franco, 36, decided not to terminate the pregnancy, but to give their little boy a fighting chance at life.
Matteo was born via emergency c-section on the 17th April 2019, tipping the scales at 4.1 kilograms, but it’s thought one-third of his body weight was down to the huge cyst which covered his side up to his armpit.
The cyst meant the newborn struggled to move his neck and head, couldn’t roll over, sit up, fit into a car seat or baby clothes.
It also left him suffering from frequent skin infections.
At six months old, the little boy went under the knife under a team of specialist at Cohen Children’s Medical Center, New York, to have the cyst removed.
He is now a happy 10-month-old with a bright future, but will need to be monitored as he grows older.
Christina, a special education science teacher, said she and her husband were “so proud of Matteo and all he’s been through”.
“He’s defied all the odds to not only survive but to thrive,” Christina said.
“We knew he was going to be born with a huge cyst, but even we were surprised when we saw it for the first time.
“Despite all of the treatment and operations he’s been through, Matteo is such a happy baby.
“He is now meeting and surpassing milestones for his age. He’s now pulling himself up to stand, crawling, eating foods with his fingers and saying ‘mama’ – we couldn’t love him anymore if we tried.”
‘Weird feeling something was wrong’
Christina and Franco were over-the-moon to discover they were expecting a baby but the couple’s blissful bubble burst at 13-and-a-half weeks when Christina and Franco discovered something wrong at a routine scan.
“I had gone to the doctor alone as it was Franco’s first day in his new job,” Christina said.
“I thought it would be fine because we had a scan the week before, but the sonographer left the room and told me to stay on the table with my bump out.
“(Later) one doctor introduced herself and told me that the purpose of the nuchal scan was to see if the baby had signs of Down Syndrome and that it showed no signs of this.
“She then told me that there was a cystic hygroma – now referred to a type of lymphatic malformation – on the baby.
“I thought: ‘A cyst? How bad can a cyst be? I guess the baby will have to get it removed?’
“But the doctor told me that it was a bit more complicated than that and showed me the scan.
“The cyst was already about the size of the baby’s head at this point – at 13-and-a-half weeks.
“It was located under his left arm, in the armpit region.
“I suppose they took so long coming in because they wanted to get all the facts straight before telling me.
“She informed me that the prognosis was not great and that the baby may terminate itself in-utero.
“She said there was approximately a nine percent chance the baby would make it, and there was a 75 percent chance that it would be a chromosomal disorder.”
Struggling with the news
Christina and Franco struggled to come to terms with the news.
“It was crippling. It was absolutely the worst days of our lives and it was so hard trying to be calm and not stress for the baby,” Christina said.
“We knew how hard it was to conceive so we decided to stick it out because we would handle whatever God’s plan had set out for us. We had no idea what was going to happen.
“The doctor then presented me with my options which were termination or chorionic villus sampling – that would involve inserting a needle into the placenta to collect fluid which would diagnose a chromosomal abnormality or disorder.
“I ended up going back the next day to take this test. The initial results came back negative for a few main chromosomal disorders.
“The sample was sent in for further testing that took 30 days to all come back negative – normal. It was a good feeling.
“I knew with all these results that the chance of him being born healthy was good.”
Baby’s incredible recovery
Three months on from surgery to remove the cyst and Matteo’s scars are beginning to heal and fade.
But in a bittersweet development, his family aren’t sure what lies in store.
“It is very sad not knowing what the future holds,” Christina explained.
“His arm and back still have cysts and aside from the new fatty growth, he has had two large lipomas on the other side of his abdomen.
“They may need to be removed but they will likely return – possibly with a vengeance.”
Leave a Reply