Baby Born with 4-Lb. Tumor on Her Tailbone: 'Seeing It on the Ultrasound Was Scary' (Exclusive)

“We call her our miracle baby,” Kristin Tyler, 23, says of her daughter. "It very much was an eye-opener for me how much love and gratitude people give."

Kristin and Jacob Tyler were ecstatic to find out they were pregnant in September 2023. The couple from Alexandria, Louisiana, had a 1-year-old son and looked forward to expanding their family.

But at Kristin's 20-week anatomy scan in February, the Tylers were told that their baby might have spina bifida. “I didn’t even know what that was," recalls Kristin, 23. "So I was freaking out."

The next day, a specialist diagnosed their daughter not with spina bifida, but with a sacrococcygeal teratoma, a rare fetal tumor that forms from the baby’s tailbone. It occurs in one in every 20,000 births. The couple was referred to Texas Children's Women's Pavilion in Houston to be monitored by a specialized care team.

They traveled 245 miles from their home and met Dr. Ahmed Nassr, a maternal fetal medicine specialist and fetal surgeon at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women. Nassr explained that the tumor was "very rare." They Tylers learned more about the condition — that it occurs in girls more often that boys, and that it's usually benign. But in most cases, doctors don’t know why it happens.

“It’s just bad luck,” says Nassr,

Related: 3-Month-Old Baby Has Half of His Brain Removed After Suffering 200 Seizures a Day from Rare Disorder

The tumors can grow very large, and as they grow they can develop large blood vessels. “They basically steal the blood supply from the baby,” Nassr explains. “The heart of the baby needs to work very hard," which, he says, can lead to heart failure.

In March, Kristin temporarily relocated to Houston with her son William and her mother so doctors could continue to monitor the baby. Jacob, a mechanic, had to stay in Louisiana and work.

“I was very scared,” Kristin says. “After so many doctor appointments and seeing it on the ultrasound, it was scary."

What made it worse was that she didn't have any friends or family members who had ever heard of the diagnosis. “There was nobody for me to reach out to talk about it,” she says, “It felt like we were in the dark.”

Related: Baby Survives Despite Large Tumor Growing Inside and Outside of Her Body

Then on April 21, at 34 weeks, Kristin delivered via C-section.

Adalida Tyler was born with 16-centimeter, 4-lb. tumor, nearly two-thirds of her body weight. Combined, the baby and tumor weighed more than 10 lbs.

Nassr recalls the tumor size being “a little bit smaller than a watermelon," but larger than a cantaloupe. “It was a big tumor, that’s why we were so worried,” he says.

“We needed to be very careful during delivery," says Nassr, explaining why they chose a C-section. "We had to avoid any trauma or rupture of the tumor. Because sometimes with that large of a tumor, it can rupture and can start bleeding, and baby can become very sick after delivery."

Kristin only saw Adalida on a TV camera in the delivery room before she was taken to the NICU. “I got to see her for a split second,” she says.

Doctors were already talking about the surgery the baby needed. "I had just had her, and I was crying and I was upset," Kristin says. Her husband sat on the hospital bed with her and they prayed: "'God, please. Let her make it through this.'" 

Two days later, a pediatric surgery team was able to remove the tumor successfully. Adalida went home from the hospital on her due date, June 29.

Today, the little girl is thriving. “She’s a good, happy baby,” Kristin says. “She’s healthy. She’s all good. She’s healed.”

In fact, Adalida has met all developmental milestones.

“We call her our miracle baby,” Kristin says. “We call her angel baby. There were so many people that loved her. I’m so grateful.”

When Adalida is between two and three years old, the family will return to Texas Children's for cosmetic surgery.

Since the tumor was removed from the bottom of her spine, only a flat surface was left. “So it was almost her whole butt — so it’s flat right there, from her back to her legs," says Kristin. "They’re basically going to make her look more like everybody else. They told me that all of the medical stuff was taken care of, that it was just cosmetic.”

Faith is what got the family through the difficult journey, she says, as well as the support of her friends and family.

"You're not alone," she says. "Because for us, it very much felt that way, that we were doing it all on our own. “I’m so grateful that we had the support that we did. There were fundraisers taking place by people we didn’t even know."

She adds, "It was an eye-opener for me how much love and gratitude people give and how much support people give when you're going through something hard.”

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