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99-Year-Old Lived With Her Organs Reversed and Nobody Knew

Rose Marie Bentley lived with a rare condition where most of her vital organs were reversed.

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In 2018, students of Oregon Health and Science University dissected a cadaver for their anatomy class only to find that most of the vital organs of the cadaver were reversed.

Rose Marie Bentley, a 99-year-old woman died in October 2017 of natural causes and donated her body to science. But little did she know that she suffered from a rare condition called Situs Inversus with Levocardia.

Bentley may probably be one of the oldest people who suffered from the condition. Besides chronic heartburn, Bentley did not experience any discomfort due to her transposed anatomy.

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Rose Marie Bentley was always intrigued by science and even volunteered during World War II for one of the nurse’s aid corps. Bentley was a medical anomaly born with a condition which is extremely rare.

According to an article by CNN, Bentley’s inferior Vena Cava was on the left side instead of being on the right. What shocked the doctors most was that most of her anatomy was reversed including her liver, spleen, stomach, digestive tract and ascending colon. Even her right lung had only 2 lobes instead of the usual three and her right atrium was twice its normal size.

According to doctors, mutation in Situs Inversus with Levocardia occur very early, usually between 30 to 45 days of pregnancy.

This condition occurs in only 1 out of 22,000 babies and only 5 to 13 percent survive past the age of 5 and have severe heart ailments.

Bentley’s condition never came up despite the fact that she had had several surgeries. She had her gallbladder removed but the doctors did not bring anything up, it was only when her appendix was removed that the doctors said that it wasn’t in its right place.

According to reports only one in 50 million born with the condition live long enough to become adults. Rose Marie Bentley and her husband James Bentley, both donated their bodies to science and inspired their children to do the same.

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