A parent will do anything to get the help their sick child needs and when one Brazilian mother ran out of options to save her 3-year-old suffering from a massive facial tumor, she decided to reach out on Facebook as a last resort for a miracle.
Three-year-old Melyssa Delgado Braga from Sao Paulo developed a rare facial tumor called a myxoma, and while it’s not cancerous, it was slowly killing her because it had grown so big that it made eating and breathing difficult. Luckily, Dr. Celso Palmieri Jr., assistant professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, saw mom Caroline’s post and knew he had to help.
“As I was reading more about her story, I realized our department could probably help her, and particularly Dr. Ghali and his department. I’ve seen him helping people so many times, so I took a screenshot of the child, and I texted it to him,” Palmieri said of his colleague, Dr. G.E. Ghali.
Ghali thought he could help, but before reaching out, he made sure the family would have a safe and affordable way to stay in the United States. He reached out to the Willis-Knighton Health System, a nonprofit organization that has helped host international patients with rare conditions, and they agreed to help. Once housing was secured and officials agreed to underwrite the cost of the hospital stay, Ghali reached out and told Caroline the good news.
“This tumor has pretty much eaten away her entire jaw from one side to the other and has displaced her tongue. (She’s) really unable to eat pretty well. She was on her way to be a pretty malnourished child,” Ghali said. Finally, the day came for surgery, and Ghali and his team were able to successfully remove the tumor. “When we were able to remove this tumor, the tumor weighed over 5 pounds on a child that probably doesn’t weigh more than 25 pounds herself, total weight,” he said. “I am grateful for everything the doctors here have been able to do for my daughter and in only a short month,” the girl’s father said.
Can you believe how different this little girl looks without the massive tumor hanging off her face? Let us know what you think in the comments below and please SHARE this with friends on Facebook.
[Featured Image: Braga Family]
Doctors Free 3-Year-Old From Aggressive 5-Pound Facial Tumor is an article from: LifeDaily