Parasitic twin erupts from 30-year-old man's belly button

Gavin Hyatt of Witney, Oxfordshire went to the hospital with a bleeding belly button. The doctor said "It was like something from Alien. I didn’t believe Gavin when he said something was coming out of his belly button until I saw him." That something was a 4cm parasitic twin that had been stuck inside Hyatt for the last 30 years. Hyatt told The Sun:

"At first I thought I had been stung by something due to the burning pain in my belly button.
"But there was no sign of anything on the skin. Then I felt a large lump just above my navel, which was so painful that I nearly passed out.
"I couldn’t sleep and made an emergency appointment with the GP the next day.
"There was a red patch around the area which was hot to the touch. Dr Santos felt it and said it was a hernia."

Hyatt is keeping his twin in a small plastic jar.

Parasitic twin erupts from 30-year-old man's belly button (Via Arbroath)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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TJ S

@11:

That would be “cannibalistic”. Parasitism implies a parasite living off of the host, rather than consuming them entirely.

Since this case involves a living group of cells tapping into the bloodstream and getting sustenance from the man, it definitely qualifies as parasitic.
Krisjohn

Humbug
strider_mt2k

Dibs on the killing sound!
Anonymous

He should sell it on Ebay, I am sure he’d make a fortune!!
Moriarty

It doesn’t say which one was evil.
noen

Maggie would have provided pictures.
avraamov

@13 – you’re right. ‘Fetus in fetu’

i’m surprised they let him keep it – i wonder what the rules are on those sorts of things?

i wasn’t allowed to keep my cyst :-(
optuser

Nobody said Quatto? What’s wrong with you people? Ok, Rudezombie got it.

If only it had been bigger! A cosmetic surgeon could’ve started a NICHE-NICHE industry of turning innies to outies. Maybe stretch it out with some fake bones, animatronic joints, RF receiver…
Xander Crews

@1

That’s exactly what I thought!

Also, that’s exactly what he should name him.
MadMolecule

@16: I don’t know what the laws in your area are, but it’s possible you just had to insist. When I had my wisdom teeth out, they didn’t want to give me the teeth, but I argued (as best I could with a head full of novocaine and a mouth full of bloody gauze) and they finally gave them to me in a little jar of formaldehyde.

I took them home, looked at them once, saw that they had bits of meat hanging off of them, and threw them away. Gross.
EH

here’s my unicorn chaser suggestion for the desperate:

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z296/deepape/People/swayze-tattoo00.jpg
Enochrewt

Emergency appointment the next day!? Dude, you have a dead fetus springing out of your belly button, you should go the the motha f&*^ing emergency room!
Gemma

@14. Check to see which one has a beard?
Talia

I think I need a unicorn chaser for the unicorn chaser ;P
TJ S

Jonas Venture Jr.
Rob Knop

ZOMG we need a Unicorn chaser in a big way and fast.
rudezombie

Quaaaaid, start the reactor…
Alys

Reminds me of Barbara Gowdy’s short story ‘The Two-Headed Man’. Creepy!
Anonymous

@2 is right. In fact, I’m clicking fast and furious right now to find my own. I don’t think I can wait for the editors…
Cefeida

He’s ‘happy to have his little friend’? Wow. I remember when the same thing happened to my godfather, except they found the fetus by accident during open-chest surgery. The man was traumatised to find out he had been carrying his unborn twin with him all these years.

Although he was a bit of a sad fellow to begin with so maybe it’s a question of attitude.

Now I can’t help but wonder what the chances are that my twin flatmates have parasitical quadruplets inside them…:P
eljesusmartinez

parasitic twin? i think this is clearly a case of self-replication gone wrong.
writesites

this was pretty crazy, I read some other coverage of it that listed some other instances of when a twin was absorbed and then kept on growing as a parasite inside of the alive twin, freaky.
CT Moore

This is so “end of days”…
Talia

Good GOD. *runs away screaming*
desiredusername

That plumber has a great sixpack
echolocate chocolate

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaggghh!!
chris

reminds me of dr. bloodmoney…
now only if the parasitic twin could talk to him and the dead… then i’d be freaked out
Chrs

I’d probably take a trip, and bury it somewhere nice, but that I won’t ever see again.
dross1260

How to get ahead in firefightin’ ?

Oh, and, huuarf.
Gemma

Why is it a “parasitic” twin? If the surviving twin absorbed the wee tiny twin, then surely it’s the twin which gobbles the other one up who is parasitic? Sort of?
Anonymous

it’s funny they make him kind of ripped in the little diagram, and he clearly is not…
adamgreenwood

Don’t you think it’s just so cute that he keeps his dead fetus twin in a plastic jar?