During the first two weeks of the Smile Train team, we did three huge head tumor cases (along with many other head and neck masses, but not the HUGE ones like these). Two were big mandible tumors. Not little ones. BIG ones. They ended up with plates in place of a large portion of their mandibles that needed to be removed due to their tumors. Another was a man with a huge 3 kg bony tumor growing off of the side of his head.
None of this would have been possible without our amazing anesthesia team. And of course our visiting surgeon.
When you see one life changed from such an impossible surgery, you have to wonder who else is out there who hasn’t come in for a consultation. Olen and I were both in the OR when I wondered out loud, “Isn’t there a guy here in Bere with a big mass like this?”
Olen replies, “Ya, that guy in the market...Market Guy.”
We go on to explain that we have seen someone with a larger-than-life tumor on his face. It was so large that it has turned his mouth sideways. We go on to explain about Market Guy, and wouldn’t that be cool if we could find him?
Bill is only here for a limited time, but... he did decide to extend his stay by a week. And we will have an anesthesiologist here next week. I asked some of the nurses and they seemed to think that he still lives here in Bere.
I ask my guards the next day if there is someone in Bere fitting this description.
The next day, who shows up but Market Guy. Now market guy has a name, but we didn’t know his name before, so we called him that for short.
The tumor started to grow on Christophe’s face when he was ten years old. And for the past TWENTY years, it has continued to slowly grow. Disfiguring his face more and more. It was a large maxillary bony tumor, an amelioblastoma.
Christophe is a very open and likable guy. He’s not shy about his looks. He doesn’t cover up or hide. But this tumor has had a toll on him. He told me he wasn’t married because no girl would want to marry him. Not because of his looks only. But because they didn’t want to become a widow. The whole town knew that eventually the tumor would grow so big that it would kill him. And nobody wanted to become a widow knowingly. Nobody would let him marry their daughter. No one would give him a real job because everyone just gawked at him. No one took him seriously.
Several years before, he had a church family. He went to church. He believed in God. His church family saved up a bunch of money to send him to some specialists in NDJ. Everyone that he saw told him it was impossible. His tumor cold not be removed.
So he drowned his sorrows in alcohol. He didn’t drink a lot because he didn’t have a lot of money, but he drank as much as he could afford. The locals later told me that Christophe was the one in the market who could be found picking a fight (probably because he was drunk). He didn’t care. He quit going to church. His life was over already. He was doomed to die.
Until he wasn’t.
That’s when the Smile Train team take two came along. Dr. Bill and Dr. Geech. Bill only had three more days left, so we reserved a whole day for Christophe’s case. We went in at 5am to prepare him. Get his IV, get him shaved and washed, etc. Jonathan did his amazing anesthesia (actually managed straight direct laryngoscopy). Bill did his wonders as God has blessed him to do.
No one could believe it! Everyone and their donkey stopped by to see the guy from the market who was said to be inoperable.
Now he has a second chance at life. Now he can get a real job. Now he can get a wife.
Christophe now wears a mask out and about. His mouth is still turned sideways because of the effect of the tumor growing for years, though he doesn’t have the tumor anymore. Prior to this surgery a mask would not in any way cover up his tumor. Bill plans to do more reconstruction on his face next year when he comes back.
Christophe went to church last week all dressed up in an old shirt of Olen’s. I don’t think that going to church alone can save a person’s soul, but now Christophe is searching for something to fill the void of emptiness that has filled his life for so many years. Please keep him in your prayers. I know Satan is unhappy about this change in Christophe’s life, but God is stronger and does the impossible so frequently.
None of this would have been possible without our amazing anesthesia team. And of course our visiting surgeon.
When you see one life changed from such an impossible surgery, you have to wonder who else is out there who hasn’t come in for a consultation. Olen and I were both in the OR when I wondered out loud, “Isn’t there a guy here in Bere with a big mass like this?”
Olen replies, “Ya, that guy in the market...Market Guy.”
We go on to explain that we have seen someone with a larger-than-life tumor on his face. It was so large that it has turned his mouth sideways. We go on to explain about Market Guy, and wouldn’t that be cool if we could find him?
Bill is only here for a limited time, but... he did decide to extend his stay by a week. And we will have an anesthesiologist here next week. I asked some of the nurses and they seemed to think that he still lives here in Bere.
I ask my guards the next day if there is someone in Bere fitting this description.
The next day, who shows up but Market Guy. Now market guy has a name, but we didn’t know his name before, so we called him that for short.
The tumor started to grow on Christophe’s face when he was ten years old. And for the past TWENTY years, it has continued to slowly grow. Disfiguring his face more and more. It was a large maxillary bony tumor, an amelioblastoma.
Christophe is a very open and likable guy. He’s not shy about his looks. He doesn’t cover up or hide. But this tumor has had a toll on him. He told me he wasn’t married because no girl would want to marry him. Not because of his looks only. But because they didn’t want to become a widow. The whole town knew that eventually the tumor would grow so big that it would kill him. And nobody wanted to become a widow knowingly. Nobody would let him marry their daughter. No one would give him a real job because everyone just gawked at him. No one took him seriously.
Several years before, he had a church family. He went to church. He believed in God. His church family saved up a bunch of money to send him to some specialists in NDJ. Everyone that he saw told him it was impossible. His tumor cold not be removed.
So he drowned his sorrows in alcohol. He didn’t drink a lot because he didn’t have a lot of money, but he drank as much as he could afford. The locals later told me that Christophe was the one in the market who could be found picking a fight (probably because he was drunk). He didn’t care. He quit going to church. His life was over already. He was doomed to die.
Until he wasn’t.
That’s when the Smile Train team take two came along. Dr. Bill and Dr. Geech. Bill only had three more days left, so we reserved a whole day for Christophe’s case. We went in at 5am to prepare him. Get his IV, get him shaved and washed, etc. Jonathan did his amazing anesthesia (actually managed straight direct laryngoscopy). Bill did his wonders as God has blessed him to do.
No one could believe it! Everyone and their donkey stopped by to see the guy from the market who was said to be inoperable.
Now he has a second chance at life. Now he can get a real job. Now he can get a wife.
Christophe now wears a mask out and about. His mouth is still turned sideways because of the effect of the tumor growing for years, though he doesn’t have the tumor anymore. Prior to this surgery a mask would not in any way cover up his tumor. Bill plans to do more reconstruction on his face next year when he comes back.
Christophe went to church last week all dressed up in an old shirt of Olen’s. I don’t think that going to church alone can save a person’s soul, but now Christophe is searching for something to fill the void of emptiness that has filled his life for so many years. Please keep him in your prayers. I know Satan is unhappy about this change in Christophe’s life, but God is stronger and does the impossible so frequently.
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