Good Morning America: Doctors Deliver 'Medical Miracle'
More than 2,000 media outlets around the globe, including Good Morning America, Telemundo and the Daily Mail, recently covered the extraordinary story of Cedars-Sinai patient Suze Lopez, who gave birth to her son, Ryu, after he developed outside the uterus, a rare condition called an abdominal ectopic pregnancy.
Lopez was preparing to have a 22-pound ovarian tumor removed when a routine presurgical test revealed something unexpected: She was pregnant.
“I wasn't even believing it at first, because I have ovarian problems, so I was thinking it was a false positive,” Lopez told Good Morning America.
Three days later, Lopez experienced cramping while attending a Dodgers game and went to Cedars-Sinai, where diagnostic imaging revealed the baby was full term.
“It turned out the mass wasn’t growing; it was the baby growing in her abdomen behind the mass, pushing everything out,” John Ozimek, DO, medical director of Labor and Delivery, told Telemundo. “That’s why she didn’t know she was pregnant.”
It is extremely rare for a baby to survive an ectopic pregnancy because the placenta— the organ that delivers oxygen and nutrients to an unborn baby—cannot safely grow outside the uterus.
“In my entire career, I've never even heard of one making it this far into the pregnancy,” Michael Manuel, MD, of Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center, told the Daily Mail.
Lopez’s complex surgery required a team of 30 medical professionals to remove the tumor and deliver the baby. Although Lopez began hemorrhaging during the operation, she recovered quickly and was able to care for Ryu, who was born weighing 8 pounds with a full head of hair.
Lopez and her family have since recovered and credit their faith for welcoming a baby who defied all odds.
Watch the entire segment from Good Morning America and Telemundo, and read the complete article from the Daily Mail.