Ariana Pulido had been living with a massive tumor weighing 40 pounds, which had grown so large it actually pushed her heart into her armpit. During six separate attempts to remove this tumor, she experienced flatlining until the procedure was finally successful, granting her a new outlook on life.
Pulido was only 22 years old when doctors first removed two tumors from her ovaries in July 2023.
Although she initially believed her health issues were resolved, merely a month later she experienced a sudden, intense pain in her shoulder, prompting an emergency hospital visit. Scans revealed the emergence of a third, rapidly expanding tumor located on her liver.
Doctors identified her condition as teratomas, a rare complication where egg-like sex cells develop into tumors in various parts of the body due to displacement during growth.
Physicians tried to treat Pulido’s tumor with chemotherapy, but the mass only grew, ballooning to 10.6-inches in diameter and 40lbs in weight, crushing her lungs, heart and leaving her in a wheelchair and needing oxygen as she struggled to breathe.
She was then diagnosed with growing teratoma syndrome, a condition where chemotherapy leads a teratoma tumor to start expanding in size.
Deeming surgery the only way to reduce the tumor, physicians tried six times, but Pulido’s heart flatlined every time they put her to sleep. The team said there was nothing they could do and put her on end-of-life care.
It was then that Pulido was transferred to another hospital, where doctors said they would try to remove the tumor in a new operation — where a machine would perform the function of her heart and lungs.
Ariana Pulido, from California, was only 22 years old when doctors diagnosed her with tumors that had formed from sex cells that had grown out of control
Teratomas are uncommon, with about 14 out of every 100,000 people diagnosed with the condition every year.
Only about 60 cases of teratomas growing after chemotherapy for ovarian tumors – as is Pulido’s case – have been reported previously.
She said in an interview following her treatment: ‘The third tumor was… pretty much taking over my whole left side.
‘It had moved, my heart was under my armpit, it squished down my lungs.’
The tumor had compressed her heart, which meant that when she was put under anesthesia — which can slow blood flow to the heart and decrease blood pressure — her heart would stop.
In order to prevent Pulido’s heart from stopping, doctors at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles hooked her up to an ECMO machine, a device that circulates blood for the heart and oxygenates it like the lungs would.
In a marathon 14-hour surgery in May 2024, which involved more than a dozen surgeons, they gradually removed the tumor.
Dr Cristina Ferrone, an oncologist at the hospital who led the treatment, said: ‘The tumor was so large and heavy, and it involved such essential blood vessels, that if you injure them, it would be very, very difficult to repair them.
‘And an injury like that could quickly lead to death on the operating room table.’
After one tumor became so big it pushed her heart into her armpit and crushed her lungs, she was left wheelchair bound and struggling to breathe
Above shows the tumor, that was removed fllowing a major surgery carried out by doctors
Pulido added: ‘The only one that could decide if I do go or stay on that surgery table would be God. And I just had really high hopes and faith that I was going to make it through.’
A motivating force for Pulido to undergo the risky surgery was a future wedding.
Her boyfriend had proposed to her in February 2024 and she was excited for the celebration and to start their dream life together.
The surgery for Pulido was a major success and she was up and walking again just a month later.
Dr Ferrone said: ‘When she returned to the clinic a month later, the entire staff and I were amazed.
‘Just six weeks earlier, she had been wheeled in, in a wheelchair. Now she walked through the doors.
‘She’s an incredibly strong young woman and has a wonderfully supportive family.’
Pulido was married on June 21, 2025, a year after the life-changing surgery, in front of her close family and friends.
She is now excited for the next stage of life.
‘I feel really good. I feel like a new person,’ she said. ‘I see the world differently. Every day is a positive day.’
