Surgeons were able to remove the football-sized tumor that was swallowing a girl’s face that was slowly killing her. Now the child, who is 12 years old, can finally smile and eat normally.
She was only known by the name Kaltoumi, and doctors predicted that she only had three months to live since the bulk prevented her from eating and steadily suffocated her as it swelled over the course of five years.
However, she was rescued when medical professionals from the Africa Mercy, a hospital ship that provides medical assistance to nations in the developing world, arrived in Cameroon to do surgery.
After the procedure, Kaltoumi said, “It feels like a heaviness has been lifted from me.” This is the first time in the last five years that Kaltoumi has been able to grin and eat normally.
Dr. Gary Parker, the chief medical officer of the organization, referred to Kaltoumi as the “poster child” for the five billion people who live in underdeveloped nations on the African continent and do not have access to “timely, affordable, safe surgery.”
He continued by saying, “A young girl of 12 years old ended up with a massive tumor that threatens her life because she did not have access to the care she required.”
“A man is transformed into a creature by the clothes he wears.”
“The “uniform” that is put on someone like Kaltoumi, as this tumour relentlessly enlarges, is that you are cursed,” the doctor told him.
The Cameroonian government provided Kaltoumi with transportation to the port where the Africa was moored so that the surgical team could remove the tumor. The crew worked diligently and precisely throughout the day to remove the tumor.
The next day, Kaltoumi looked in the mirror and saw that she had a new face.
However, the path to recovery was a long one, and she came back to the ship a few months later to have the skin that had been affected by the tumor tightened.
The crew banded together to support Kaltoumi and showered her with their love and friendship.
Carys Parker, a volunteer who was serving aboard the ship as a chaplain, became like a sister to her.
According to Ms. Parker, “When I first met her, she was reticent and hesitant to try new games and activities with me.”
But after just a few short weeks, I realized that it was impossible for me to visit Kaltoumi without being assaulted by one of her embraces and subjected to the sound of her laughing.
She has a passion for life and a desire to spread the love and happiness that she feels for it to others. To bring about such a remarkable transformation, it does, in fact, require a village.
Kaltoumi has a desire to complete her degree and would love the opportunity to go back to school. In addition to that, she has plans to assist in the marketing of the vegetables grown on the farm owned by her family at the neighborhood farmers market.
According to Dr. Parker, “She has the potential to be a world-changer because she has the determination to never give up,” and he says this because she will never give up.
Her greatest hope is that she will one day be able to get married and have a family of her own, which is a future that does not seem impossible despite the presence of a cancerous tumor.
