Surgeons in China are working to remove a 22-pound tumor from this man’s face.  Huang Chuncia’s facial tumor started becoming noticeable at the age of 4.   Just last July he was in the hospital for same thing, which made headlines back then too.

With his disease, Huang is left to deal with things like his left ear being at shoulder level, his entire left eye being blocked, his teeth being knocked out and a deformed backbone.  All of those cause issues for him when he is eating, speaking or just trying to hear.

At 31 years-old he has had to endure public ridicule, so he spends most of his time in isolation.   He even quit school at the age of 10 just to be free of the bullies in school.  I read somewhere that someone had asked him to be in a circus freak show.  How sad for someone to have to deal with something like this on a daily basis, but he has high spirits in hopes that his surgery to remove the remaining 22-lbs.  He says, “I hope that when my illness is cured, I can go back home and have a nice spring festival with my family.”

The disease he has is neurofibromatosis, at first I had no idea what this meant, so I read up on it.

The neurofibromatoses are genetic disorders of the nervous system that primarily affect the development and growth of neural (nerve) cell tissues. These disorders cause tumors to grow on nerves and produce other abnormalities such as skin changes and bone deformities.

You can read more of the disease here.

Here is ABC New’s China’s ‘Elephant Man’ to go under the knife