A Tree Grows in … WHERE?

Russian doctors found a two-inch tree growing inside a man’s lung the other day.

Artoym Sidorki, 28, had been complaining about severe chest pains and coughing up blood. Suspecting cancer, the doctors decided to perform a biopsy first, just to make sure.

It’s a good thing they did, because they found a small spruce sapling growing inside the lung tissue. It was the pine tree’s needles that had been irritating capillaries in the lung and causing the coughing and bleeding. The doctors said he apparently had inhaled a seed, which later sprouted and developed into the living plant.

Mr. Sidorki said he never felt as though he had anything inside him, despite the pain and bloody sputum.

I kid you not.

P.S. After examining the photo again, I have deep doubts that the tree grew from a seed. A seedling requires sunlight to facilitate photosynthesis. Any intermediate school student knows that. Unless the Mr. Sidorki has an internal sunny disposition, it’s more likely that he inhaled the twig in its entirety.