Aussie Surgeons Successfully Remove Huge Mass from a Filipino Boy's Face

Australian surgeons from Monash Children's Hospital have successfully carried out a complex procedure involving the removal of a huge growth from the face of a Filipino boy.

Jhonny Lameon, 7, suffered from encephalocele, a rare condition affecting one in ten thousand babies. It is a neural tube defect resulting in membranous sacs covering his face.

An NGO volunteer noticed him while on a visit to Philippines and sent pitures of the boy to James Leong, plastic surgeon at Monash Children's Hospital in Melbourne.

"As soon as I saw his case I immediately sent emails to get approval so we could help this young boy. The condition is rare, with about one in 10,000 babies born with the defect," Leong said to AFP. This condition, in developed nations, can be corrected as soon as possible.

Children First Foundation, along with Interplast, decided to bring Jhonny to Australia because the surgery needed was not available in the Philippines.

An eight-hour operation was performed by four surgeons who removed the mass and reconstucted the young boy's entire face in March.

Leong remarked Jhonny's case was quite severe and the surgery was quite complex.

He explained, "We were able to excise the tumour, and reconstruct the face by breaking the bone between the eye sockets. We also took a rib graft to reconstruct a nose for Jhonny. 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."

A bundle of energy that he is, Jhonny is recovering at a rehabilitation center and will soon be able to live the life of a normal child.

Before the surgery, he wanted to run and play around with other children but the "ball," as referred to the growth by Jhonny, made it impossible for him to do so.

He was teased since he had to hold the tumor from his face to eat and drink and this made life very difficult for him.