When the parents of a three-year-old girl in Brazil pleaded for surgery to remove her facial tumor, it finally went through after American doctors offered to help. And a month after the procedure, the surgery was a success.
Because a tumor had been growing on her face, Melyssa Braga appeared to have an extremely large chin. But after going through the 10-hour surgery, she is now completely unrecognizable – and that is a good thing.
Having the tumor removed has completely changed this young girl’s life. Now she can feel normal and fit in with her peers.
Check out this amazing transformation below and see what these American doctors did to help this little girl!
The life-changing surgery happened on December 20th. That day will forever be remembered by Melyssa and her family.
“When we were able to remove this tumor, this tumor weighed over five pounds,” said Dr. G.E. Ghali during a news conference Tuesday morning.
“This was sort of our Christmas present,” Ghali said. “We’re very happy we were able to pull this off for this family.”
Because the girl was a toddler, the tumor was massive in comparison to her total body weight.
“A child that probably doesn’t weigh more than 25 pounds herself, total weight,” Gali added.
When Dr. Celso Palmier, assistant professor at the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, La., stumbled upon an online article from his home country of Brazil, he was transfixed. He found the post where Melyssa’s parents pleaded and begged the right medical professional to help their daughter have the terrible tumor removed.
Because Palmier was moved, he wanted to help. He recruited his colleagues and arranged for the procedure. He helped Melyssa and her family travel to LSU and even got them housing to weather the storm.
Although the family had been saving up for the trip, Dr. Palmier was able to have the costs underwritten and they didn’t need to pay for the expensive procedure or travel. It was a gift from God, the family believed.
Less than a month after Palmier discovered Melyssa’s story, the little girl was going into surgery with some of the best doctors in the world.
The procedure was deemed a success. But her battle against the tumor is not over. As she grows older, Melyssa will need other surgeries to keep her look maintained.
But as Melyssa recovers from the procedure, her parents are extremely grateful that a stranger had stepped up to help their darling girl.
In the video below, you’ll see images of the little girl before her surgery. And then you can see what she looks like after. The change is dramatic and the girl looks practically normal.
“She’s been eating a lot of cake,” Palmieri said. “She loves cake.”
When she ages, she will need to replace the titanium jaw and bone. But for now, she is just a normal little girl – finally…
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