A woman who 'looked nine months pregnant' was left stunned to discover she had a football-sized cyst in her stomach.
Abi Chadwick, was baffled after piling on two stones and in a matter of weeks she had ballooned from a size 12 to a size 18 within months.
The 19-year-old put herself on a strict diet and even managed to lose a stone - but her stomach was still enormous and she couldn't figure out why.
Abi says eating left her feeling sick and before long people began assuming she was pregnant because the bulge in her stomach was so prominent.
Eventually Abi started experiencing sharp pain in her stomach in March this year and doctors finally discovered she had a 13-inch cyst in her abdomen.
Terrified Abi had the mass removed two weeks later at Walsall Manor Hospital, West Midlands, on 13th April 2021 before it ruptured.
Abi, a care assistant, from Cannock, Staffordshire, said: "My stomach was rock hard and when I used to go out to the shops people used to tell me I looked nine months pregnant.
"It made me feel bad because I couldn't lose the weight even though I wanted to.
"I was relieved when I was told it was a cyst the size of a football.
"I just wanted it gone."
Abi says before the cyst was discovered even something as little as a slice of toast left her sick.
She said: "Every time I had two mouthfuls of toast I would be absolutely stuffed - I couldn't figure out why.
"I couldn't eat anymore so that really took its toll.
"People kept telling me I was pregnant, and I thought it was just because I was fat and there was nothing I could do so I brushed it off.
"I can understand why they said it though now.
"But in the moment you don't think anything of it."
But in March, 2021 Abi started experiencing severe pain in her stomach so she sought medical help.
Abi said: "I had what felt like a stitch in my right side and it was agony.
"I couldn't really walk or bend over.
"I went to work, and they thought I had a UTI but everything was normal after I got tested.
"The pain didn't stop so I went to A&E and they thought it was appendicitis or kidney stones.
"But after getting checked over again they couldn't find anything, I didn't know what to do."
Doctors finally scanned Abi's abdomen and were shocked to find a huge cyst sitting in her stomach.
Abi said: "I couldn't believe it when they told me.
"They said I had cyst in my abdomen which needed to be removed.
"I was probably born with it and it just grew and grew and I never knew.
"If I had left it and it ruptured it could have been really bad.
"I always had a bit of a pudge underneath my belly, but I thought that was just the way I was.
"Looking back now, I don't know how I didn't notice that something was up."
Abi finally had the cyst taken out at Wallsall Manor Hospital, West Midlands, on 13th April 2021.
She said: "I was so relieved when I finally got it removed and I feel like myself again.
"I'm yet to see anyone that's had one that big.
"I thought the cyst would be small and it would go but I realised my stomach was all cyst.
"I'm glad I don't look pregnant anymore, but I can't believe I was walking around like that for so long."
