ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A 14-year-old Florida girl, Jasmine Ramirez, recently underwent a 17-hour surgery to amputate her left leg, which had grown so large she required a wheelchair. The leg, weighing over 170 pounds, had been growing abnormally since she was two due to a rare, unnamed condition.
“Like her arteries, her veins, the fat, the mass of it, her bone — all of it just kind of grew at an abnormal rate,” her sister, Anastashia Ramirez, told Fox13. Doctors had previously classified the growth as a lymphomatous tumor.
Initially able to walk, Jasmine’s mobility gradually declined, forcing her to use a wheelchair. Her family even had to have her clothing custom-made to fit her leg.
She was admitted to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital after developing an antibiotic-resistant infection in her leg, which posed a life-threatening risk. During surgery, doctors amputated her oversized leg and removed a tumor in her abdomen. Post-operation, Jasmine weighed just 80 pounds.
Anastashia said Jasmine is recovering well: “She’s getting out of bed. They’re putting her in the wheelchair… She’s been doing great.”
A GoFundMe campaign has raised over $16,000 to help with Jasmine’s care and support her parents, who are providing full-time care for her and her six siblings.
Anastashia added, “Jasmine’s a trooper. She’s a superhero, honestly. All that strength and courage it takes to do this — it takes a lot.”
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