A very young Filipino boy who is only7 years old suffered from a huge tumour that went across her face. He suffered from severe fronto-nasal encephalocele. But an NGO volunteer who saw the little boy sent his pics to Monash Children's Hospital plastic surgeon James Leong in Melbourne.
"As soon as I saw his this boy with the huge tumour on his face, I immediately sent emails to get approval so we could help this young boy," Leong told AFP.
Interplast teamed with the Children First Foundation to bring Jhonny to Australia, as the type of surgery he needed was not available in the Philippines and was out of reach for the Filipino boy's impoverished family.
Leong said the Filipino boy's condition was rare, with about one in 10,000 babies born with the defect. In more developed nations, the condition is usually picked up and corrected early.
A team of four surgeons, who all volunteered, performed an eight-hour operation to remove the mass and reconstruct Jhonny's entire face in March, with the hospital revealing news of the case today.
"Jhonny's tumour was quite severe. The surgery was quite complex," said Leong.
"We were able to excise the tumour, and reconstruct the boy's face by breaking the bone
between the eye sockets. We also took a rib graft to reconstruct a nose for Jhonny."
The boy with the tumour has been recovering at a rehabilitation centre north of Melbourne and Leong said he was a bundle of energy and now able to live like other children his age.
"Jhonny referred to the tumour as 'the ball' and it made life very difficult for him. He was ostracised and teased and had to hold the tumour away from his face in order to eat or drink," Leong said.
"He still wanted to run and play like any other little boys but 'huge tumour' made this almost impossible.
"We feel privileged that we have an opportunity to change this little boy's life, and we hope Jhonny's quality of life will improve considerably."
Jhonny’s mother, Chochi Lameon, became teary as she struggled to explain what the surgery meant for her son and family.
Mrs Lameon will soon return home to her family on the island of Mindanao, where her husband works as a fisherman.
‘‘Dr James did really good work of making a nose for Jhonny,’’ she said.
‘‘Thank you so much to Dr James. I’m very happy we are going back home now.’’
Its always good to help people, God bless the NGO volunteer Leong.
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