A Small Lump in Her Neck Led to 2 Rare Tumors and a 24-Hour Surgery

Jayme Cohen Lynde’s rare tumor diagnosis led to a major surgery and a long recovery. Now, she is a thriving mom of two daughters. Image Credit: Photos by Jayme Cohen Lynde/Collage by Andrew Nguyen. A lump in Jayme Cohen Lynde’s neck led to a carotid body tumor diagnosis and a second rare tumor called a paraganglioma. Surgery to remove the paraganglioma lasted 24 hours and required months of recovery, including relearning how to speak and swallow. Years later, doctors discovered a recurring tumor and a new tumor during routine follow-up care. After seeking a second opinion, Cohen Lynde and her doctor opted to monitor the recurring tumor rather than pursue radiation treatment. In 2000, Jayme Cohen Lynde was finishing her junior year at Michigan State University when she noticed a lump on the side of her neck. While she was largely symptom-free, she followed up with a specialist and learned she had a carotid body tumor, a rare growth that develops near the carotid arteries in the neck. Because the tumor was benign (noncancerous), her doctors told her she could finish the school year and spend the summer in New York for an internship. When she returned home in August, she expected to undergo a relatively minor surgery with a short recovery. Instead, the specialist who treated her wasn’t convinced they had the full picture. “The weekend before the surgery, [the specialist] had me do all these extra tests,” she told Healthline. “What we found out was, not only was there a carotid tumor living on my carotid artery, but there was a paraganglioma tumor that was living on the base of my skull.” Paragangliomas are rare neuroendocrine tumors that can develop in various parts of the body, including along cranial nerves. Because the paraganglioma appeared to be growing slowly, doctors decided to remove the carotid body tumor as planned first and allow Cohen Lynde to complete her senior year of college before addressing the second tumor. “It was an 8-hour surgery,