Australian Surgeons remove Huge Tumour on Filipino boys Face

The Filipino boy with the huge tumour before and after his operation.

Australian surgeons have successfully carried out a complex and rare procedure to remove a huge growth from the face of a young Filipino boy, who had to lift it up to eat and drink. The boy with the huge tunour,Jhonny Lameon, 7, suffered from a severe fronto-nasal encephalocele – a neural tube defect that resulted in membranous sacs expanding through his eyes and covering his face.

He was noticed by a volunteer at NGO Interplast during a visit to the Philippines, who sent photos of the child to Monash Children's Hospital plastic surgeon James Leong in Melbourne.

"As soon as I saw his this boy with the huge tumour on his face, I immediately sent emails to get approval so we could help this young boy," Leong told AFP.

Interplast teamed with the Children First Foundation to bring Jhonny to Australia, as the type of surgery he needed was not available in the Philippines and was out of reach for the Filipino boy's impoverished family.

Leong said the Filipino boy's condition was rare, with about one in 10,000 babies born with the defect. In more developed nations, the condition is usually picked up and corrected early.

A team of four surgeons, who all volunteered, performed an eight-hour operation to remove the mass and reconstruct Jhonny's entire face in March, with the hospital revealing news of the case today.

"Jhonny's tumour was quite severe. The surgery was quite complex," said Leong.

"We were able to excise the tumour, and reconstruct the boy's face by breaking the bone
between the eye sockets. We also took a rib graft to reconstruct a nose for Jhonny."

The boy with the tumour has been recovering at a rehabilitation centre north of Melbourne and Leong said he was a bundle of energy and now able to live like other children his age.

"Jhonny referred to the tumour as 'the ball' and it made life very difficult for him. He was ostracised and teased and had to hold the tumour away from his face in order to eat or drink," Leong said.

"He still wanted to run and play like any other little boys but 'huge tumour' made this almost impossible.

"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." 




Filipino boy Jhonny Lameon's face had almost disappeared behind a huge sac of fluid protruding from between his eyes before his case came to the attention of Melbourne surgeons.

The seven-year-old boy,had a rare birth defect called a frontonasal encephalocele, which occurs when the neural tube fails to close during foetal growth. Brain matter and fluids can protrude through the skull, forming a sac-like bulge.

In the Filipino boy's case the sac was the size of a cantaloupe, weighing about one and a half kilograms, and had become so large it was obscuring his vision.

The little Filipino boy’s mouth and nasal airway were functioning normally, but he had to use one hand to hold up the tumour in order to eat and drink, and was teased for his deformity.

Jhonny’s future began to look brighter after he was assessed by a team from Interplast, a not-for-profit organisation supported by Rotary and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, on a visit to the Philippines.

Arrangements were then made for him to travel to Australia for complex eight-hour surgery, successfully performed in March by a team of volunteers at Monash Children's Hospital.

The change to Jhonny’s appearance is striking. Monash Children’s Hospital plastic surgeon James Leong has recently given him the all-clear to return home, much to the relief of Jhonny and his mum, Chochi.

The pair have been staying at the Children First Foundation’s Kilmore farm since December and have a new member of the family to introduce to Jhonny’s dad and 10 siblings when they arrive home, after Mrs Lameon gave birth to baby Jack in March.

Jhonny sat in a toy car and hooned around at Dr Leong’s feet on Wednesday as the doctor explained that, without surgery, there was a risk that an infection in the sac have might have led to fatal meningitis.

Jhonny has already lost sight in one eye after the sac pushed into it and caused irreparable damage.

Dr Leong and colleagues prevented further problems by excising his tumour and rebuilding his face, including repairing displaced bones behind Jhonny’s eyes and reconstructing his nose using a rib graft.

‘‘His condition is cured now, which is going to be fantastic for him,’’ Dr Leong said. ‘‘It has been a privilege for all of us to be part of this life-changing surgery.’’

Jhonny’s mother, Chochi Lameon, became teary as she struggled to explain what the surgery meant for her son and family.

Mrs Lameon will soon return home to her family on the island of Mindanao, where her husband works as a fisherman.

‘‘Dr James did really good work of making a nose for Jhonny,’’ she said.

‘‘Thank you so much to Dr James. I’m very happy we are going back home now.’’