Daniela Almeida Vera, an 81-year-old pensioner, died in Brazil after undergoing surgery to remove an ultra-rare “stone baby,” which she had been carrying inside her for roughly 56 years.
Vera died the next day after undergoing surgery at Ponta Pora Regional Hospital in Mato Grosso do Sul. Vera suffered stomach problems, and a scan revealed a calcified fetus, known as a lithopedion.
Vera had the MRI at Ponta Pora Hospital after being treated for a widespread infection. According to the Daily Mail, the patient initially sought treatment for a urinary infection at a nearby hospital before being moved to Ponta Pora for additional investigation.
Prior to the stunning discovery of the “stone baby,” medical specialists feared Vera had cancer. She had been carrying the petrified fetus in her body since her last pregnancy, nearly five decades earlier.
Vera, who belonged to an indigenous group and lived in a village near Brazil’s border with Paraguay, is survived by seven children and forty grandkids. She died on March 15, while still in intensive care after the procedure. Rosely Almeida, one of her six daughters, told local media: “She was elderly, and we are indigenous people.”
“She didn’t like going to the doctor and she was afraid of the equipment used to carry out tests.”
She speculated that her mother may have carried the “stone baby” for more than 56 years, as physicians had calculated. Vera described sensations during her first pregnancy, which felt like a baby moving inside her belly.
Vera’s only son, Vanderlei Avalo Almeida, stated that she resisted getting medical attention for fear of having a tumor.
“She would just take medicine so the pain went away.”
Additional testing have been requested on the calcified fetus to learn more about it.
Almeida stated, “We are in shock and very sorry. She was our mother and the only one who safeguarded people, and now she is gone, leaving us feeling lost.”
In March of last year, stories emerged of a tragic occurrence in the United States in which a 50-year-old Congolese lady died from chronic malnutrition after a lithopedion clogged her intestines for nine years. The woman, who had come in the United States as a refugee, sought medical attention for stomach cramps, indigestion, and a gurgling sensation following meals.
Despite physicians’ recommendations, she avoided surgery, claiming her ailment was the result of a curse placed on her in Tanzania.
Meanwhile, extraordinary photographs emerged in 2021, portraying the moment medics discovered a “stone baby” inside the womb of an elderly woman in Algeria.