A baby born with a cyst the size of a football under his arm can now crawl for the first time after successfully having it removed.

Mum Christina DiMartino, 34, was told her unborn son, Matteo, had an abnormally large mass located across his chest and left arm—covering up to 50 percent of his body—after a routine scan at 13 weeks. The baby was found to have a rare lymphatic malformation, and medics warned he had just a nine percent chance of making it to birth.

First-time parents Christina and her electrician husband, Franco, 36, decided not to terminate the pregnancy, choosing instead to give their little boy a fighting chance at life.

Matteo was born via emergency caesarean section on 17 April, weighing 4.1 kilograms. Doctors believed roughly one-third of his body weight came from the huge cyst that stretched from his side up to his armpit. The mass left the newborn unable to move his head and neck freely, roll over, sit up, fit into a car seat, or wear regular baby clothes. It also caused frequent skin infections.

At six months old, Matteo underwent surgery with a specialist team at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New York to remove the cyst. He is now a happy 10-month-old with a bright future, though he will need ongoing monitoring as he grows.

Christina, a special education science teacher, said she and her husband are “so proud of Matteo and all he’s been through.”

“He’s defied all the odds to not only survive but to thrive,” Christina said. “We knew he was going to be born with a huge cyst, but even we were surprised when we saw it for the first time. Despite all of the treatment and operations he’s been through, Matteo is such a happy baby. He is now meeting and surpassing milestones for his age. He’s pulling himself up to stand, crawling, eating foods with his fingers and saying ‘mama’ – we couldn’t love him more if we tried.”

Christina and Franco were overjoyed when they discovered they were expecting, but their world shifted at the 13-and-a-half-week scan.

“I had gone to the doctor alone as it was Franco’s first day in his new job,” Christina recalled. “I thought it would be fine because we had a scan the week before, but the sonographer left the room and told me to stay on the table with my bump out. One doctor introduced herself and told me that the purpose of the nuchal scan was to check for signs of Down syndrome and that it showed no signs of this. She then told me there was a cystic hygroma—now referred to as a type of lymphatic malformation—on the baby. I thought: ‘A cyst? How bad can a cyst be? I guess the baby will have to get it removed?’ But the doctor told me it was more complicated than that and showed me the scan. The cyst was already about the size of the baby’s head at 13-and-a-half weeks. It was located under his left arm, in the armpit region. She informed me that the prognosis was not great and that the baby may not survive in the womb. She said there was approximately a nine percent chance the baby would make it, and a 75 percent chance of a chromosomal disorder.”

The news was devastating. “It was crippling. It was absolutely the worst days of our lives and it was so hard trying to be calm and not stress for the baby,” Christina said. “We knew how hard it was to conceive so we decided to stick it out because we would handle whatever God’s plan had set out for us. We had no idea what was going to happen.”

Doctors offered options including termination or chorionic villus sampling. Christina returned the next day for the test. Initial results came back negative for major chromosomal disorders, and further testing over 30 days also returned normal.

“It was a good feeling,” she said. “I knew with all these results that the chance of him being born healthy was good.”

Three months after the surgery to remove the main cyst, Matteo’s scars are beginning to heal and fade. Still, the family faces uncertainty about the future.

“It is very sad not knowing what the future holds,” Christina explained. “His arm and back still have cysts and, aside from the new fatty growth, he has had two large lipomas on the other side of his abdomen. They may need to be removed but they will likely return—possibly with a vengeance.”

Despite the ongoing challenges, Matteo continues to progress, bringing joy and pride to his parents every day.

Source: Adapted from family accounts and public reporting on Matteo DiMartino’s journey, including coverage from LifeNews and related features on his surgery at Cohen Children’s Medical Center.