SALEM, Ore. — Rose Marie Bentley was an avid swimmer, raised five kids, helped her husband run a feed store, and lived to the ripe age of 99. It was only after she died that medical students discovered that all her internal organs — except for her heart — were in the wrong place.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Walker described his reaction to the find as “definitely a mix of curiosity, fascination and a sense of wanting to explore a little bit of a medical mystery — a medical marvel really — that was in front of us.” Bentley, who lived in Molalla, 25 miles south of Portland, had led a normal life. Her only recurrent physical complaint was arthritis, her daughter Louise Allee remembered.When Bentley was in her 50s, she underwent a hysterectomy, and the doctor also wanted to remove the appendix but couldn’t find it, Allee said in a phone interview. She said it was removed later.