Lillianne Maitha thought that her daughter who had abnormally huge breasts would literally carry huge weight in her chest for the rest of her life, until she realised it was a medical condition that could be rectified…

While some women today desire to have breast augmentation surgery to increase the size and change the shape of their breasts, all that Annie Maitha wished for was a breast reduction.

Other than the ‘unnaturally’ big breasts, she had occasional neck and shoulder pains, back pains, extremely sensitive nipples, especially in colder months and frequent chest pains.

According to her mother, Lilliane Maitha, though her daughter didn’t let the size of her breasts get into her way, she would from time to time say that she didn’t like how her breasts looked like and if she got a job, she would save money in order to go out of the country to undergo a breast reduction procedure.

“When she was in Class Seven, my daughter’s breasts started becoming abnormally big and I wondered why. By the time she joined Form One, they had grown too big.

In our family, no one had such kind of breasts. Eventually, I thought the genes must be from her father’s side and just thought that is how her physical appearance was meant to be,” says Lilliane.

It is in 2021 they discovered that what she had was a medical condition. “I was relaxing on the couch scrolling through my Instagram page when I came across a post of a girl who was thanking God for the progress she had made after a year of undergoing breast reduction surgery.

She had posted her before and after photos and I noticed that though the girl appeared small in size; her breasts were very big just like my daughter’s. She went on to mention the condition as gigantomastia,” explains Lilliane.

Annie says: “I only became aware of gigantomastia when I was diagnosed with the condition. It was my mother who got to know about ‘The Gigantomastia Foundation’ on Instagram. She read much on what gigantomastia was, shared it with me and scheduled a doctor’s appointment in order to confirm whether or not I had the condition.”

When the news of the diagnosis was broken to her by the doctor she cried. “I honestly cried. Big breasts were something I had grappled with since I was a young teenager, but when they grew really big at a time when I was supposed to be at my prime as a young woman, my confidence took a huge hit.

I had come to terms with the fact that I was destined to carry that punishing weight on my chest for the rest of my life.

To hear from a doctor that the condition I had could be handled and taken care of took a huge weight off my shoulders. If possible, I could have had my procedure then and there,” says the 22-year-old.

Huge relief

The doctor took Annie and her mother on what the surgery would entail, recovery and post recovery process. The sad thing is that many insurance companies were adamant to meet the costs of the surgery deeming it as cosmetic surgery.

We had to explore other options of raising the funds needed since the surgery was to be done in April when Annie was in her semester break,” says Lilliane.

The surgery took place on April 30, 2021 and lasted  for around six hours. Three Kilogrammes of mass in total was removed from both breasts —1.8 kilogrammes on the left and 1.2 kilogrammes on the right.

Lilliane says: “You could see the smile on her face when she woke up and the first thing she did was to place her hands on her breasts. She could not believe it. As a mother, it was such a sigh of relief. I was glad to see her happy.”

Annie says she was instantly relieved when she regained consciousness after the surgery. “ I had drains on both sides of my reduced breasts to get rid of unnecessary fluid that would build up in the breasts.

I was in the hospital for a week and went home after fluid stopped building up and the doctor removed the drains. I had to wear surgical bras day and night as well.

The support I received was immense, especially from my mother who fought for me to have the surgery despite the financial implications and constraints. I also went through counselling before and after the surgery and that also helped. My friends have also been immensely helpful,” she says.

By the time another semester began, Annie was upbeat and ready to resume her studies. The scars underneath her breasts have also started fading away, but are still visible. But she is fine.

“Most of the time, she never liked cleaning the house or mingling with her friends due to the weight of her breasts. She would put on layers of clothes to cover up.

It affected her self-esteem. When she started walking around the house, we would tell her to stop slouching and walk straight. But that is all in the past now.

My girl springs while walking and her self-esteem is back. We thank God and the doctors for walking us through the journey,” says Annie’s mother.

“I can now wear clothes in my closet that I could not before my surgery because of the chest area. I can also see my waistline with or without a bra. My interactions with people has also improved.

I don’t shrink myself when with people as I used to before because I thought people would just be staring at my breasts, even when it wasn’t the case, and now I don’t feel the same. The size of my breasts doesn’t hold me back anymore,” she says.

Creating awareness

Mother and daughter have now become gigantomastia ambassadors, enlightening girls about the condition. “I work in a university and I have talked to girls who I realised might be having the condition.

One of the girls I talked to knew she had the condition, but the mother was adamant for her to go for surgery. The others did not and I just took time to explain to them about it and the importance of them going for a check-up,” says Lilliane.

Annie’s mother shares how she faced discouragements from some colleagues who told her that she should not allow her daughter to go for surgery. “Others said that was her physical appearance and she should learn to live with it.

But my daughter was determined to have the surgery and I was ready to walk the journey with her. We came from a point of ignorance whereby we didn’t even know it was a medical condition, but we are now knowledgeable. All is well and we give God the glory,” she says in conclusion.