'Pregnant' woman's shock as bump turns out to be ovarian cyst the size of a football

PEOPLE kept asking Jane Alexander when her baby was due.

But the bump in her tummy was a cancerous cyst that weighed a stone-and-a-half and was twice as big as a football.

Jane, 41, had no idea she was carrying the colossal growth. She tried in vain for a year to lose weight but it grew by two inches every week.

The ovarian cyst was only discovered after Jane made a routine visit to her GP.

And after she had it removed and went through a hysterectomy, doctors told her it was cancerous and they'd caught it just in time.

Jane, of Kelty, Fife, said: "The fact I was carrying something that large is horrifying. It was taking over my body.

"I looked like I was expecting twins but no wonder - it weighed more than twins.

"But I'm lucky. I'm so very glad it was caught early."

Jane realised something was wrong when her stomach grew so big she couldn't see her feet.

She's married to George, 46, but she knew she wasn't pregnant. So she joined Weightwatchers and tried for a year to slim, dieting and walking miles a day.

But the weight wouldn't shift, and the constant questions about her "pregnancy" only made things worse.

Jane only found out the frightening truth after she went to her doctor to get a prescription renewed.

She told him she'd been getting pains in her side and he sent her to hospital for ultrasound and CT scans which revealed the huge cyst.

Jane said: "When they said I needed a hysterectomy I didn't have to think twice.

"I just wanted the cyst taken out - especially when they said it was more than 15 inches across and growing."

Jane had the op just 10 days later. Tests on the cyst revealed it had been cancerous, but the disease hadn't spread and she didn't need more treatment.

"I felt like a different person after the surgery," Jane said.

"I could see my feet. I'd gone from a size 18 to a size 12, and I was so glad that thing wasn't there any more."

Jane now raises awareness of the disease by supporting Target Ovarian Cancer. She held a zumba dance event on Sunday which raised more than £1000 for the cause.

She said: "I'd never heard of ovarian cancer before this happened to me. I want the next woman like me to have her life saved too."