upworthy

cancer

Joy

Kids being treated for cancer get their own newly designed Brave Barbie and Ken dolls

The dolls are made specially for children with illness-related hair loss.

Screenshots courtesy of Children's Hospital L.A./Instagram

Kids at Children's Hospital L.A. got a special surprise.

Toy dolls of today may look different than those made centuries ago, but they still serve the same purpose. Some kids play with dolls to pretend to be a parent, some to role-play a range of imaginary identities, and some to practice social situations, figuratively putting themselves in the doll's shoes and developing empathy in the process.

It seems logical that kids who have dolls they see themselves in would find comfort in playing with them, so imagine how a child who has lost their hair due to cancer treatment or other illness would feel having a doll made just for them. And not just any doll—an iconic Barbie doll that reminds them that they are brave and strong.

As part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, 100 Brave Barbie and Ken dolls were delivered by Mattel to Children's Hospital L.A. for kids undergoing cancer treatment. Brave Barbie and Ken are bald and come with hats and wigs, reflecting the reality that many children undergoing chemotherapy see when they look in the mirror.

Mattel introduced the first Brave Barbie in 2013, making her the only toy in the world created and distributed exclusively through nonprofit partners. Now, the first-ever Brave Ken doll joins Brave Barbie, along with a new Brave Barbie model with brown skin and dark hair. The toy manufacturer announced that 10,000 of the dolls will be distributed worldwide to children fighting cancer or autoimmune diseases that result in illness-related hair loss.

“For more than a decade, Brave Barbie doll has offered children comfort in seeing themselves reflected and reassurance that they are not alone on this journey,” said Nancy Molenda, Vice President of Global Corporate Events and Philanthropy at Mattel. “With their meaningful new look and expansion to a Brave Ken doll, these dolls continue to embody courage and compassion. Placing these dolls into the hands of families and seeing the light they bring during life’s hardest moments is profoundly humbling and a privilege we hold close to our hearts.”

Children's Hospital L.A. explained what the dolls mean to the young patients in their care and expressed gratitude for Mattel's generosity.

"These dolls bring moments of joy, spark imaginative play, and help kids feel strong and supported during treatment, where they may experience hair loss," the hospital shared on Instagram. "Our Child Life Specialists use dolls to help children understand their treatments and feel more at ease in the hospital. These toys are wonderful teaching tools, making medical procedures less scary by creating a safe, fun, and supportive space for learning."

Brave Barbie and Ken come with "fashion-forward" outfits and five accessories: headphones, a hat, a headband, a rooted wig, and a customizable sticker pack.

Chase Carter, director of community engagement at CureSearch, helped develop the Brave Ken doll, which he describes as "deeply personal" since he is a childhood cancer survivor himself. “It was important to me that Brave Ken carry the same message that Brave Barbie has given kids for years, that they are seen, valued, and strong even in their toughest battles,” Carter says. “These dolls are far more than toys; they are symbols of courage and companions in the fight.”

Mattel has shared that over 120,000 Brave Barbies have been distributed since her launch in 2013. This year, the program has expanded globally thanks to partnerships with Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), Starlight Children’s Foundation, CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, and other international organizations, including Koala Kids, Save the Children, Fundación Teletón, and In-Kind Direct.

As Children's Hospital L.A. wrote, kids who are dealing with serious illnesses like cancer demonstrate what true bravery looks like every day. How wonderful to have that courage reflected to them in their imaginative play.

From Your Site Articles
kids
JoyHeroes
Women's Health

Woman has cyst removed and is stunned to learn it had teeth, hair, and maybe even an eyeball

They're called teratomas, and they are the stuff of nightmares. They're also really misunderstood.

Canva Photos & E.dronism - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

Woman lying in hospital bed.

The human body is fascinating and, to this day even, full of mysteries. Did you know there's a condition called Stoneman Syndrome where a person's ligaments slowly transform into bones? Or how about Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome where a person lives their entire life on the brink of orgasm? Or how about Auto-brewery Syndrome, where a person's gut biome naturally creates alcohol out of normal foods and beverages, thereby making them intoxicated without drinking a drop of booze?

The body is capable of extraordinary and extremely bizarre things, that's for sure.

That was certainly the case when 20-year-old Savannah Stuthers went in for a relatively routine cyst removal that turned out to be anything but.

Stuthers dealt with months of cramps, pain, and even bleeding—which doctors told her was normal after having an IUD inserted—before she couldn't take it anymore and took herself to the emergency room.

There, ER docs discovered a sizable cyst on one of her ovaries. Because the cyst was so large, the OBGYN at the hospital wanted to have it removed as soon as possible. Within a few days, Stuthers went under the knife.

When she woke up from the anesthesia, the doctors had news. Her mom was there to capture the moment Stuthers heard that what was removed from her body was no normal ovarian cyst. It was a teratoma—a unique kind of tumor that grows from germ cells (cells that eventually become sperm or, in Stuthers' case, eggs). Because of their origin, teratomas frequently grow hair and even teeth, along with various kinds of tissue. The teratoma inside Stuthers' ovary had all that, and more... The surgeons even thought Stuther's teratoma may have had an eyeball! (Later testing ruled this out... close call!)

Here's the exact moment Savannah Stuthers learned what had been growing inside of her:

teratoma, tumor, cancer, women's health, women, health, hospital, doctor, OBGYN, reproductive health, ovarian cyst Savannah Struthers was horrified to learn that her cyst was actually not a cyst at all. www.tiktok.com

Stuthers posted the photo on TikTok where it went mega-viral to the tune of 34 million views. The morbid curiosity in the comment thread was absolutely off the charts. Many people had never heard of teratomas before, and most of them wish they still hadn't.

"Girl I could have went my entire life without looking up what a teratoma is," one wrote.

"I just looked at photos of teratomas and it made my arm get chills," a user added.

"it's crazy the body can actually create new eyes and teeth and THIS is what it chooses to use that ability for," said another.

Other commenters were just here to applaud the teratoma representation:

"this happened to me, they removed my ovary with the teratoma and my surgeous said it burst on her 😩 I was the first surgery of the day"

"this happened to my sister but there were brain cells in hers, causing her anti bodies to fight off both the teratoma braincells as well as her actual braincells putting her in a coma for 4 months. it was awful."

Of course, there were plenty of jokes, too:

"Why am I picturing Mike Wazoski from Monsters Inc???" one user said.

"Can we see it? ❌ Can it see us? ✅" joked another.

Mostly, people just wanted to know if they could see a picture of the actual teratoma. Stuthers did eventually show a photo briefly in a follow up video, but luckily for us, we can get a better look at these things through a plethora of high-res online images.

Ready? If you're squeamish, you might want to look away now.

teratoma, tumor, cancer, women's health, women, health, hospital, doctor, OBGYN, reproductive health, ovarian cyst A teratoma with lots and lots of hair growth.Ed Uthman, MD. - Public Domain

Stuthers was not about to let her newfound virality go to waste: She set right to work busting myths and misconceptions about teratomas.

Obviously, with 34 million viewers and many who had never heard of teratomas, she was going to get a lot of questions. She also got a lot of opinions that needed correcting.

"Those things form from sperm so tell your man to get a better pull out game or use protection," one commenter said. In a response video, Stuthers simply wags her finger: Uh, no. Teratomas form from germ cells, which can turn into sperm, but they have nothing at all to do with sexual activity.

Another asked if the teratoma formed from a pregnancy gone wrong in the early stages. "So you would've maybe had a viable pregnancy but it didn't make it down into the uterus." Stuthers responded by citing that teratomas are actually congenital tumors, meaning they are present or begin forming prior to birth. So this was lurking in her body for a long time before it reached critical mass and had to be removed, and again, has nothing to do with her sexual activity whatsoever.

(Sorry, one more photo incoming.)

teratoma, tumor, cancer, women's health, women, health, hospital, doctor, OBGYN, reproductive health, ovarian cyst An ovarian teratoma with a long strand of visible hair.E.dronism - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

In an interview with Newsweek, Stuthers said that discovering the teratoma inside of her made her feel "gross."

"It messed me up for a while thinking about how I never knew that it was there. In a way, it made me feel gross. The photo of the tumor truly altered my brain chemistry," she said. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Teratomas, while admittedly a little freaky and frightening, are really no different than any other kind of tumor. It's their origin from germ cells which makes them capable of growing human tissue, teeth, hair, and eyeball-like structures.

But they're understandably hard to talk about. And so as a result, the general public doesn't understand teratomas very well. But Stuthers is working to change that with her follow-up videos on TikTok.

She also wants to encourage young women to advocate for themselves medically. Doctors dismissed her pain and discomfort for months before she finally went to the ER, and she's urging women to trust their gut and fight for their own bodies:

"I got lucky as we found it in time so nothing too extreme happened. But I can't help but think that if my doctors in Illinois would've listened, I would still have both ovaries. It is so important for women to express our pain and not allow doctors to invalidate us."

This article originally appeared in May.

From Your Site Articles
women's health
Women's HealthHealth
Health

Doctors are surprised by unexpected stowaway during routine colonoscopy: a ladybug.

It was probably ensuring good luck for the unsuspecting patient.

Photo credit: The American College of Gastroenterology

Doctors are surprised by unexpected stowaway during colonoscopy

Getting a colonoscopy is not something anyone looks forward to doing. You have to spend three days prepping for the procedure which includes drinking a "bowel preparation solution." That's just a fancy way of saying "taking an extremely powerful laxative that will have you lying on the bathroom floor too afraid to move because you finally expelled the gum you swallowed in third grade."

Doctors and their fancy words to describe gross things, am I right? But hey, everybody poops. There's even a book about it for parents to read to toddlers who are potty training. The purpose of spending two days counting the tiles your sweat drips onto in the bathroom is to clean out your colon before doctors insert a camera to look for polyps, cancer, and other medical conditions. But when a patient went in for their appointment, doctors discovered something they didn't expect to find: a stowaway that had, somehow, survived the tsunami of poo.

The patient was a 59 year old man who was being seen for a routine colonoscopy, the procedure where they take a small camera equipped with a light and send it up to traverse the colon and large intestine. It's a procedure that becomes part of a full preventative workup once you reach the age of 45 if you're at average risk for colon cancer according to MD Anderson Cancer Center (though doctors are now recommending colonoscopy screenings begin sooner due to rising cases of colon cancer in young people according to the Cancer Research Institute).

colonoscopy ladybug; ladybug; colonoscopy surprises; bug during colonoscopy; colonoscopy prep Urgent dash to the bathroom! 🚪🏃♂️Photo credit: Canva

When the camera rounded the bend, it caught a clear sight of a perfectly intact ladybug who, despite the likely terror it experienced, was still alive.

The findings of the patient's friendly colon passenger was reported in the 2019 ACG Case Reports Journal complete with pictures of the spotted little fella just hanging out inside a human cavity. While the doctors have no way of determining how the ladybug wound up inside the man's body, they believe it was likely swallowed accidentally and escaped the wing destroying stomach acid due to the bowel preparation solution speeding up the process. The ladybug likely felt like it was on a weird waterslide or, if it's seen The Magic School Bus, it might have assumed Mrs. Frizzle had something to do with its unexpected adventure.

colonoscopy ladybug; ladybug; colonoscopy surprises; bug during colonoscopy; colonoscopy prep Ladybug unexpectedly found during colonoscopyPhoto credit: The American College of Gastroenterology

“The patient's colonoscopy preparation was 1 gallon of polyethylene glycol the evening before colonoscopy, and the colonoscopy examination was otherwise normal,” the authors of the journal write. “His colonoscopy preparation may have helped the bug to escape from digestive enzymes in the stomach and upper small intestine.”

If you're going to have a bug hang out in your poop chute, a ladybug is likely the preferred unexpected guest. Gastrointestinal specialist Dr. Keith Siau likes to share the things he and his colleagues have found inside patients and a ladybug is probably the least gross option for critters. He's found ants, cockroaches, and bees (yes, bees that help pollinate flowers and sting people who disturb their important business).

colonoscopy ladybug; ladybug; colonoscopy surprises; bug during colonoscopy; colonoscopy prep Close-up of bottom of ladybug found in colonPhoto credit: The American College of Gastroenterology

People cannot get over doctors finding bugs in people's colons during colonoscopies, while others have jokes about the random bugs found inside people. One person writes, "Oh, that’s just the magic school bus. They transformed into a lady bug for the field trip."

"Don’t take it out until you play the power ball," another says.

"Taking the title of invasive species a little far," somebody jokes.

"So I already worry about bugs getting into my ears, now I gotta worry about bugs up my butt? I hate it here," another cries.

"I’ve always had a fear of ingesting a bug or parasite and them finding it one day. I know that’s crazy but I think about it often. Seeing this affirmed my fear of the unknown," someone else shares.

"I could have gladly lived the rest of my life without knowing this." one person writes.

Well, if you're due for your routine colonoscopy here's hoping they don't find any unauthorized critters and you get a clean bill of health.

From Your Site Articles
colonoscopy ladybug
HealthMen's Health
Kids

5-year-old getting blood drawn psyches himself up through tears with the best pep talk

"Heck yeah!" This little cancer warrior is helping everyone who hates needles find courage.

Screenshots courtesy of @morganprains/TikTok

Reece has become a viral hero for how he handles his biweekly blood draws.

Very few people enjoy being poked with needles, and a good percentage of the adult population is actively afraid of it. So it's no surprise when young kids cry when it's time for a shot or when they have to get their blood taken. Who can blame them? It sucks.

For Morgan Handley's son, Reece, that discomfort is not just a once-a-year ordeal, but a more-than-once-a-weekly one. The 5-year-old was diagnosed with leukemia three years ago at age 2 and has to get his blood drawn regularly. The way he psyches himself up for it—despite clearly being upset by it—has people cheering him on and inspired to take the same approach to hard things they don't want to do.

Watch:


@morganprains

Just my 5 year olds version of a pep talk for his lab draw this week…. He’s had his labs done at least bi weekly for almost 3 years 🥹🤣 #fyp #childhoodcancerawareness #roarlikeReece #fcancer

His "Heck yeah! Do it. Just do it." would be enough on its own, but the enthusiastic "Yeah, boy! That's what I'm talkin' about!" is such a flex. The little warrior clearly knows what works for him, and his courage through his tears is exactly what we all wish we could muster when we're going through something hard.

Handley tells Upworthy that it's something he's internalized from the family. "We pep him up, always, but it’s carried over over the years," she says. "And now he just naturally does it, even to us when we have things that have to get done!"

People loved how he handled it:

"Him crying while cheering himself on broke my heart and made me laugh at the same time."

"He figured out it's mind over matter!"

"He handled that better than some grown men I know! Hahah"

blood draw, needles, fear of needles, trypanophobia, getting blood taken Many grown men don't handle getting their blood taken very well.Photo credit: Canva

"I don't even have kids and I want to get him whatever toys he wants after this."

"Look at that brave little guy! He pep talked himself through the anxiety and pain!!"

Handley shared that Reece is set to ring the bell—declaring that he's cancer-free—in July of 2025. It's been a long road to get there. He was diagnosed with leukemia in September of 2022 after going to the ER for fever blisters that had turned into a rash around his mouth and what seemed like an allergic reaction. Noticing Reece looked pale, the ER doctor took his blood and found a white cell count of 80,000, which was an indication of leukemia. After being transferred to the children's hospital, doctors rechecked his blood cell count and confirmed it.

That's where the family's cancer journey began, meeting with doctors, coming up with a plan, and starting treatment, which has consisted of chemotherapy, weekly labs, multiple surgeries, spinal taps, immunotherapy, steroids, and more. He was able to start immunotherapy treatment as part of a St. Jude's trial, which has been shown to reduce relapse rates. Immunotherapy treatment is now part of standard protocol, says Handley.

"Treatment has been decently smooth," she tells Upworthy. "He has sensitive skin so lots of rashes to every medicine ever. Steroids do a number on kids. In the beginning he stopped walking, but he overall hasn’t had terrible reactions. Immunotherapy was a smooth part of treatment."

@morganprains

Replying to @Hannah Fountain sorry it’s so long 😆 #fcancer #childhoodcancerawareness #diagnosis

Reece's specific form of leukemia is acute lymphocytic (or lymphoblastic) leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the bone marrow and blood that progresses rapidly and creates immature blood cells rather than mature ones. It's the most common form of childhood cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic. Thankfully, it's now more treatable than many other forms of cancer, with a high survival rate, especially for those diagnosed as young children.

Handley shared another video that illustrates how much of a day-by-day process it is go to through cancer treatment as a child. She said how Reece deals with blood draws "depends on the day."

@morganprains

Replying to @Morgan Handley truly an inspiration. I’m so proud of this kid. He is a literal hero. The unfortunate reality is needle pokes are a frequent occurrence in cancer treatment. Most days he just makes the best of it 🥹🤪❤️‍🩹 #childhoodcancerawareness #roarlikeReece

People in the comments have been encouraging and some have even shared their own stories with childhood leukemia, offering hope to Handley and her family.

"My brother was also diagnosed with leukemia at 2 - remission at 5. I was born right after he was diagnosed. So much similarity. He’s been cancer free for 35 years…praying for y’all!"

"My sister was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 2 as well and beat it by the age of 6. It stunted her growth significantly but other than that she’s 25 and thriving!!"

"I had a hemoglobin of 4 the day I was diagnosed with ALL at 6 years old. Very pale, very weak. Biggest clue was I couldn’t keep up in PE & my mom had a gut feeling. I’ve been cancer free for almost 28 years now. I also became a nurse because of this experience. Much love to you all."

"My oldest boy was 3 when he was diagnosed with stage 3 Clear Cell Sarcoma. He is now cancer free and 8 years old. We had another boy and expecting our little girl in October. I pray your little boy a long healthy life he deserves."

However, an increase in positive outcomes doesn't make treatment any more enjoyable or the process any easier for a parent.

"I want people to know how hard it is to watch you kid lose himself and struggle with simple kid things because you’re trying to save his life," says Handley. "I want people to know that the reality is living in fear of death for your child. Everyday. Relapse, everyday. But celebrating every single good thing that comes."

@morganprains

Replying to @Belinda_H12 thank you for this 🧡 #childhoodcancerawareness

She calls Reece "a literal superhero," and people agree. Seeing how this kiddo had learned to take on his challenges with gusto-filled resilience and enthusiasm is something we can all learn from.

You can follow Morgan Handley for more updates on TikTok.

From Your Site Articles
kids
KidsFamily
Trending Stories