An Oregon teenager is recovering in the hospital after doctors removed a nearly 25-pound tumor from his abdomen.
Kristion Kim, 15, from Tualatin, began rapidly losing weight over the summer - which led doctors to believe he had an eating disorder.
But, during one visit to his pediatrician last month, the doctor felt the high school freshman's stomach and realized it was hard and bulging a bit.
After a few days of scans and tests, Kristion was diagnosed with a very rare cancer that arises in the fat cells, reported KOIN 6 News.
Kristion learned an extremely large tumor had been constricting his stomach and bowels to such an extent that he hadn't been able to keep any food down.
His pediatrician was convinced that he had an eating disorder. Pictured: Kristion after his diagnosis
After his pediatrician felt that his stomach was hard, she recommended that his family schedule an ultrasound. Pictured: Kristion's tumor
Between the beginning of the summer and the end of January 2019, Kristion lost about 40 pounds.
'I saw him bending down and I could see his ribs showing...from his back,' his mother, Staci, told KOIN.
Staci took her son to countless appointments with his pediatrician. But the doctor believed that Kristion was purposely losing weight.
She was allegedly ready to refer the teenager to a psychiatrist, believing that he had an eating disorder.
But Staci wasn't convinced. Even though Kristion was losing weight, he had a stomach bulge.
'One of the times I saw his stomach, his stomach was bulging out,' she told KOIN.
'That bulge is not normal. I said: "I want to see a [gastroenterologist]. I want more tests." I said: "Something needs to be done now!"'
The pediatrician felt Kristion's stomach and, realizing that it was hard, she told the Kims to schedule an ultrasound.
The very next day, Kristion had the ultrasound, which was quickly followed by an emergency CT scan that showed a mass was enveloping his entire stomach.
Oncologists were not sure what cancer the teen had, but told Staci that the tumor has shuffled around the organs in his abdomen.
The ultrasound and an emergency CT scan showed that a mass was enveloping Kristion's entire stomach. Pictured: Kristion, left, and his mother
