A Vietnamese teenager who has just been freed from a 6.8-kg (15-pound) facial tumor may need two more reconstructive operations, doctors from a US-based hospital who performed the operation said last Friday.
Lai Thi Dao, 15, needed more operations as the largest Schawannoma tumor ever reported had deformed her tongue muscles and jaw bones, the doctors from the University of Miami’s Jackson Memorial Medical Center said.
Dao, who underwent a 12-hour surgery to remove the tumor last Tuesday and is reported to be recovering well, will stay at the hospital for six weeks, according to the Miami Herald.
She will then receive physical, speech and psychological therapy before returning to Vietnam, yet Dao will come back to the US for reconstructive surgery.
When Dao was three, the tumor appeared on her tongue as a cyst which could have been removed easily, had it not been for her family’s poverty and the dearth of local medical care.
Since then, the tumor developed until it weighed nearly seven kilograms, accounting for 25 percent of her weight.
Dao’s surgery cost around US$107,000, paid through donations raised by the International Kids Fund (IKF).
The nonprofit organization is calling for donations for Dao’s reconstructive surgery through its website www.internationalkidsfund.org.
“What we hope is to help her have a normal life in her hometown,” said Dr. Robert Marx, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon of the university.
“Our ultimate goal is to help her go to school and make friends with those who accept her as a normal friend like others.”
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