Oh hey, this is me! I had two accessory spleens. But the bad news is that ALL of them absolutely had to come out -- the accessories were discovered during a medically necessary splenectomy.<p>As the article says, the spleen filters your red blood cells and platelets. Think of it like a swimming pool filter for your blood stream. It knows which cells to break down because they're misshapen, spherical, instead of the "donut without a hole" shape. RBC's live about three months before degrading like that.<p>There's just one problem: what happens if your red blood cells are ALL funny-shaped, even the young healthy ones? Why then, your spleen valiantly tries to catch 'em all, like Pokémon, and you end up breaking down your own blood supply, auto-hemolytic anemia.<p>Welcome to hereditary spherocytosis, which is what I have. Despite its name, it was not hereditary in my case; about 25% of cases are de novo mutations. Incidence is about 1 in 6500, though some milder cases go undetected.<p>So, after a childhood of jaundice at birth, inexplicable anemia, paleness, and just being really really tired all the time, finally at age six did my pediatrician notice that my spleen was massively enlarged (due to working overtime) and two years later I had to have it out, along with the two accessories they discovered on the operating table. This was the late 1980's so I juuust missed the beginning of the era of laparoscopic surgery, so I have a heck of an abdominal scar.<p>Poor little spleen, it was only trying to do its job. The fault lay with my blood, not with it.<p>Meanwhile, I'm immune-compromised for life and have to stay on top of all kinds of vaccines. Note to other spleenless wonders posting here: there's a brand new Meningitis Type B vaccine that just came out in late 2014; get on that. Also Prevnar, Pneumovax, annual flu shots and all the other fun stuff.