22YO Woman Removes Her Entire Stomach After Learning She Inherited Cancer-Causing Gene

2019-11-20 , 3:00 am

It’s not every day that you hear someone removing their entire stomach for health-related reasons.

Sure, to outsiders it may seem a tad bit too drastic, but this lady had a good reason to do what she did.

A Genetic Mutation In Genes

Emily LeFranq, 22, from Woodland, Washington had her whole stomach removed when she found out that she was at risk of stomach cancer.

The news came after her father, who suffered from brain cancer was told that he had a mutation in his CDH1 gene.

A person with that mutation has a 70% chance of developing stomach cancer.

Worried that she could also carry the mutated gene, she quickly got herself tested and discovered that she indeed carried the mutation in the same gene.

Made Decision To Remove Stomach

Emily made the abrupt decision of removing her entire stomach after receiving the news.

Thank God she made that decision.

When the doctors removed her stomach, they did some testing and found that the cancerous cells were already in the stomach lining.

“It’s such a fast-moving cancer, and mine was already growing,”

What Is Her “Stomach” Now?

Some of you might be wondering if she had gotten a new stomach from a donor – because how can one function without a stomach?

Well, it is actually possible to live without a proper stomach.

The doctors connected her oesophagus to her small intestines in a procedure otherwise known as a “gastrectomy”. This acts as a substitute stomach.

Changes To Diet

Even though the stomach might sound like an unimportant organ, many people neglect what their stomachs do for them daily. For one, the stomach digests the food that you consume every day.

Removing your entire stomach would mean that your whole diet is going to change.

After the surgery, Emily can only eat smaller portions of food as she gets fuller faster. However, she can afford to eat slightly larger portions of food overtime as her intestines will stretch to accommodate what she eats.

To avoid experiencing what is called a “sugar crash“- a sudden drop in energy levels after consuming a large amount of carbohydrates, she has to make sure that her meals are balanced.

Positive Outlook On Life

Despite the changes that she has to make to accommodate her new “stomach”, Emily has a positive outlook in life.

She mentioned that if she hadn’t gotten the surgery, she wouldn’t have made it past her mid-to-late 20s.

Emily might seem a bit kiasu, but it’s better to be safe than to be sorry. We wish her the best and hope that this serves as a reminder for all of us to take precautions and go for regular medical check-ups!