Lump found on woman's ovary turned out to be her 10cm-long unborn twin

A mother-of- two was horrified to discover a seemingly harmless lump on her ovary was in fact the decades old remains of her unborn 'twin', the Daily Mail reports.

Jenny Kavanagh, 45, made the grim discovery after she went to the doctors to have a contraceptive coil implanted and medics insisted on an ultrasound of her ovaries due to her age.

Scans revealed a 10cm mass growing in her left ovary and concerned medics warned it could rupture and kill her at any moment. Surgeons told her it was an undeveloped unborn twin which had grown inside her from birth - complete with face, an eye, tooth, and long black hair.

The logistics officer, from Twickenham, London, said: "I feel very lucky that they found it and removed it before it killed me. I try not to think of it too much because I don't want to feel sad about it".


Ms Kavanagh moved to Cyprus in 2005. She said she has always avoided doctors and has never visited a gynaecologist, but had no problems with either of her pregnancies.

But when she started to have heavy periods she worried it might be due to a coil she had fitted 15 years ago and went to get a new one. The consultant scanned her abdomen and while her right ovary was totally normal, the one on the left side had a 10cm dark mass, in May this year.

Her doctor assured her it was unlikely to be a cancerous tumour - and probably a teratoma or cyst - but she said she had 'thought the worst'. She said: 'He advised me it would have to come out regardless. If it twisted or ruptured it could kill me.'

After tests proved inconclusive, 11 days later she underwent a three-hour operation to remove the mass at The Mediterranean Hospital of Cyprus. Doctors agreed to take a photo of the mass on her phone and showed her it when she came around, explaining it was a mass of cells which had been inside her since birth.

When she looked at the snaps she was shocked to see long strands of dark hair, just like hers. 'We cannot know for sure that it was an unborn twin, but the doctors said it most likely was a stem cell that I have had from birth.

Ms Kavanagh, who has now made a fully recovery added: 'When I showed the picture to my mum she was really sad - saw it as her unborn child, and my unborn twin.'

 Independent