NEWS

Australian Surgeons Successfully Removed a Huges Mass from Filipino boy’s Face

Melbourne, Australia – A team of medical experts from Melbourne Monash Children’s Hospital successfully carried out a complex procedure to remove a huge mass from the face of an impoverished Filipino boy. Four surgeons worked together to take off the tumour in March 2014. The said surgeons also reconstructed the kid’s entire face. On Thursday, Monash Children Hospital officially announced the news of the case, the ABC news reports.

The 7-year-old patient identified as Jhonny Lameon was suffering from a quite rare severe disease affecting one in 10,000 babies born called fronto-nasal encephalocele, a neural tube defect which triggered the formation of membranous sacs expanding through his eyes and covering his face. In more developed nations, the medical condition is easily corrected as soon as the disease has been detected antenatally through the ultrasound results. However, Jhonny lives in a very poor community in the southern tip of the Philippines, where medical attention is rarely observed.

Jhonny, who referred the tumor as “the ball", had to lift it up in order to eat and drink. The situation he experienced for years made life difficult for him. He wanted to be like any other little boys in their community but “the tumour made it almost impossible".

The young Lameon was immediately noticed during a visit of a certain volunteer from a non-government organization unit “Interplast". Touched by the story of the seven-year-old poor Filipino boy, the volunteer took photos of him and sent it to Monash Children’s Hospital plastic surgeon James Leong in Melbourne, Australia.

“Someone sent me a message on email with photos and the story of Jhonny with this terrible defect and straight away we really wanted to help him,” Leong said in an interview.

According to AFP news, Leong immediately replied to the email and asked for approval so his team could help the young boy. The kind surgeon suggested that the medical procedure had to be done in Australia since the facilities needed are not available from where the patient comes from such as neurosurgery, plastic surgery, an intensive care unit, and all sorts of different imaging equipment.

Not-for-profit organisation Interplast Australia and New Zealand, which provides free reconstructive surgery for people across the Asia-Pacific region, assessed Jhonny while on a visit to the Philippines. The Children First Foundation then organised to get him to Australia, including visas, passports and flights for Jhonny and his mother Choch. - ABC news

The team of Dr. Leong scheduled the surgery in March. They successfully removed the tumor and reconstructed the face of Jhonny by breaking the bone between the eye sockets. They also took a rib graft to reconstruct a nose for the Filipinoy boy.

“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.” Dr. Leong said to the local media.

The medical procedure was very complicated but thanks to the kind and generous volunteers, surgeons, and to all the nursing and staff of Melbourne Monash Children’s Hospital.

Meanwhile, another good news happened to the family of Jhonny during their visit to Australia. A week after his surgery, his mother gave birth to a boy named Jack.

Before and after magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The photos show the amazing transformation of Jhonny’s face. 

The official composite photo showing Jhonny Lameon from the Philippines before and after his surgery, released by Monash Childrens Hospital on July 3, 2014. He has been recovering at the Children First Foundation’s rehabilitation farm at Kilmore, north of Melbourne.

Source: AFP & ABC news