Huang Chuncai, China’s Elephant man went on to receive surgery on Christmas in order to combat the crippling condition of neurofibromatosis, a condition which causes large tumors to appear on the 37 year old man’s face.
So widespread is the disease, that Chuncai is said to have the world’s worst recorded case of the condition.
The Christmas day operation nevertheless went on to remove 3.3 lbs of tumor from his face.
Fortunately, Wednesday’s operation was successful and Chuncai will now have two more to try to get his condition under control.
Neurofibromatosis is said to be inherited from one of the parents, yet up to 50% of cases go on to develop the gene mutation randomly before they are born.
The condition which is marked by growths and swellings of cells is not cancerous or contagious.
Nevertheless Huang’s tumors, which five years ago were said to weigh 33lbs have put so much pressure on his body that it has deformed his backbone, stunted his growth and left him in continual pain.
The man’s tumor first became apparent when he turned four.
He is said to have quit school when he was 10 years old because his classmates laughed and alienated him because of his condition.
All of his teeth fell off at the age of 25 and thereafter, he found it difficult to speak and eat.
It has also been reported that several years ago, a circus approached his father to buy his son for holding ‘monster performances,’ but his parents refused.
Huang had surgery in 2007 and 2008 – the first to remove the 33lb tumour. The surgery was extremely risky due to the high chance of heavy bleeding.
According to the Mayo Clinic, neurofibromatosis causes tumors to grow on nerve tissue after cell growth is disturbed in the nervous system. These tumors that can grow anywhere in the nervous system such as the brain, spinal cord, and nerves are usually considered noncancerous and non contagious. Common effects of neurofibromatosis include loss of vision, hearing loss, cognitive impairment, and cardiovascular disease.
above image found here
Previous 2009 operation below;
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