Florida teen undergoes 17-hour surgery to amputate 170-pound leg that grew so fast she had to use a wheelchair
Mike Bedigan
Thu, December 18, 2025 at 12:25 AM UTC
2 min read
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Generate Key Takeaways
A teenager in Florida has undergone a mammoth 17-hour surgery to amputate her leg, after it grew so fast she needed to use a wheelchair.
Since the age of two, Jasmine Ramirez has had a condition that has caused her left leg to grow much faster than the rest of her body. The condition is so rare that doctors do not have a name for it.
"Like her arteries, her veins, the fat, the mass of it, her bone – all of it just kind of grew at an abnormal rate," her sister, Anastashia Ramirez, told Fox13. Doctors previously classified and managed the growth as a lymphomatous tumor.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
At first, the youngster was able to walk, but eventually her leg got so large that she had to use a wheelchair, according to her family. She was forced to have her clothes specially tailored to fit her leg.
Jasmine, now 14 and described as “creative, brave, sassy, and full of light,” has endured multiple hospital stays and surgeries to manage the size and growth of her leg.
In recent weeks, she was admitted to the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St Petersburg, Florida, after contracting an antibiotic-resistant infection on her leg, which may have been life-threatening. Her family then decided to have her leg amputated.
During the surgery, which lasted around 16.5 hours, doctors amputated her leg, which weighed just over 170 pounds, and also removed a tumor in her abdomen. After the operation, Jasmine weighed just 80 pounds, according to Fox13.
"She's doing better every day," Anastashia Ramirez told the outlet. "She's getting out of bed. They're putting her in the wheelchair… She’s been doing great."
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
A GoFundMe set up by her sister has raised over $16,000 to help with Jasmine’s care and to help support her parents, who are providing full-time care, and her six siblings.
"With my parents, it's hard for them. Seeing their child go through something like this that you can't control,” Ramirez said.
“It was a little more heartbreaking to my parents because they're trying their best. They're listening to doctors, medical professionals, but there's not much that they can do because they don't know what is causing it."
She added: “[Jasmine’s] a trooper. She’s a superhero, honestly. All that strength and courage it takes to do this – it takes a lot.”