A 71-year-old woman from Philadelphia, Mary Clancey, has told the "absolutely insane" story of how a 140-pound cancerous tumor was removed from her. For 15 years, she thought she was gaining weight and dutifully watching her diet, until a recent CT scan revealed she had a massive tumor. Doctors spent 5 hours to get the tumor out; now Clancey is lighter and healthier.

Clancey, of St. Clair in Philadelphia, weighed 365 pounds by the time she was admitted for surgery. Now she weighs only 180 pound, half her former body weight, and adjusting to balancing herself again as a lighter, old lady. She started thinking it was a "destiny" to put on weight as she aged, most especially when photos of her late aunts and grandmother showed they were round and chubby. Her case can be likened to the heaviest woman in the world who just underwent a successful bariatric surgery in India.

A painful blood clot in her leg made her go to hospital

Clancey used to work at a candy counter and stood working for nearly eight hours per day. She however retired and started experiencing pains in her leg six months after she quit job. Recalling that she had been treated for a blood clot in her leg some years earlier, she thought the blood clot was back and went to the hospital to check, New York Daily News reports.

Doctors asked that a CT scan be done when they saw her huge stomach and weight at her age of 71. They found a huge tumor that was also cancerous and needed to be removed immediately. In fact another table was brought in so that the CT scan could fully cover the large tumor. She had been moved to Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Philadelphia, by then.

"It was slowly killing her," surgeon says

Dr. Richard Boulay, the surgeon that led other doctors to perform the surgery told newsmen later that the cancerous tumor "was slowly killing" Clancey without anyone knowing it. And they had spent 5 hours to get the cancerous mass out. The medical team also removed about 40 pounds of skin from the old lady.

Now Clancey is healthier and free of cancer and grateful that the leg pain had compelled her to come to hospital where her 140-pound tumor was discovered. "A blood clot saved my life," she had said, "Life is good and everything is in place." According to her, she is now free to eat anything she likes and do everything she had always wanted to do.