Pea plant grows in man's lung?!

Is the human body a suitable greenhouse? It appears so, at least in the case of Roy Sveden of Brewster, Mass. Local Boston TV station WHDH reported that Sveden, who had been coughing severely, was rushed to the hospital on Memorial Day after a 911 call placed by his wife. An X-ray revealed his left lung had collapsed, and he and his doctors feared he had a cancerous tumor during the two week of testing that followed. But all the tests came back negative.

Turns out, what Sveden had brewing in his lungs wasn't cancer. It was a half-inch long pea sprout. His doctors believe he had eaten a pea that went down the wrong pipe, sprouted in his lung and began to grow, according to the report.

It's impossible for a cooked pea to sprout, so there must have been a rogue uncooked legume on the man's plate, perhaps explaining why it posed a problem during the swallowing procedure. And the warm, moist environment in his lung probably was ideal for germination.

Maybe my sister was right when I swallowed that watermelon seed in the first grade. "You're going to grow a watermelon in your stomach," she taunted till I was nearly in tears. Who knew?