Meet the 50 Year Old Woman Who Was Pregnant for 9 Years

Beryl Romaine was one of millions of women who suffer from fibroids These are benign or non-cancerous growths in or around the womb..Like many women, at just 32 she was told she would need a hysterectomy

With a huge bump and swollen ankles, anyone would have assumed Beryl Romaine was pregnant.

Indeed, many a kind stranger gave up their seat on a train for her, asking when the baby was due.

But Beryl was not pregnant - far from it, in fact. Her 'baby' was actually a huge growth on her womb that would not only wreck her dreams of marriage and motherhood, but leave her confidence in tatters.

The now 50-year-old was one of millions of women suffering from fibroids - benign or non-cancerous growths in or around the womb.

Continue to read more

Beryl Romaine's 'baby' was actually a huge growth on her womb that devastated her life. The non-cancerous tumours, called fibroids, affect at least one in three women

Symptoms include heavy menstrual bleeding, pain and the need to urinate frequently.

Around one in three women develop fibroids at some point, most often between the ages of 30 and 50.

And they are thought to develop more frequently in women of African- Caribbean origin.

There is a strong genetic predisposition, says Isaac Manyonda, consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at St George's Hospital NHS Trust, South-West London and the Newlife Fertility Centre in Epsom, Surrey.

'If your mother had them, you are likely to, as well.' In 50 per cent of women who have them, fibroids do not cause symptoms: they may shrink and disappear without treatment.

However, the other half experience pelvic pain (from the pressure caused by the fibroids) and heavy and/or extended periods.

Both the long and short-term health consequences can be devastating.