A Chinese mother of two disfigured by horrific tumours growing on her face has been told by doctors she will make a full recovery after the government said it would foot the bill for her surgery.
Li Hongfang, 40, was shunned in public after a rare type of bone cancer caused tissue to grow under her skin, distorting her features beyond recognition.
Ms Hongfang endured the condition, known as Chordoma, for more than a decade because she had no money to pay for the £60,000 (600,000 yuan) surgery.
Suffering: Li Hongfang, pictured in hospital, was unable to afford £60,000 on her tumours without help
Intervention: The 40-year-old is now about to have surgery to help cure her condition – known as Chordoma – after her plight received international attention
But after her plight touched hearts around the world earlier this month, shaming the country’s ailing health service on a global stage, the Communist government gave doctors all the money they needed to save her.
Staff at Qianxian People’s Hospital, near Xi’an in western China’s Shaanxi province, are now doing all they can to rescue a woman, whose tumour-ridden face has found international sympathy.
The hospital’s medical director, Xue Gang, said: ‘Our superiors told us specially that we should cure Li Hongfang’s illness at all costs.’
Local government officials pledged to meet all costs for her surgery and ongoing radiotherapy to make sure the tumours stay away.
Spokesman Si Dangku confirmed: ‘We will pay and if we run out of funds, the regional government will pay.’
Surgeon Pan Lin – from Xijing Hospital, where Hongfang is preparing for her operation – said the operation will make her look ‘beautiful again’.
Distorted features: Ms Hongfang originally thought a small swelling on her forehead was an insect bite – but gradually the tumours spread
‘I am NOT a monster’: Li Hongfang, 40, has a rare condition which has caused tumours to grow on her face – but she is unable to afford treatment
‘The condition is rare but the tumours are benign so her life is not in danger,’ he said.
‘After the tumours have been removed we will provide some cosmetic surgery and she will end up a beauty again.’
Ms Hongfang is now undergoing a series of pre-op tests before the surgery can begin.
She said: ‘I am so grateful to the people who made this happen.’
‘I just want to look normal again, like I feel inside. I’m not a monster and I don’t want to look like one.’
Nightmare illness: The mother-of-two is shunned in public because of her rare condition. The tumours on her face have been growing for the last 10 years
Grief: Li Hongfang was hit by the death of her husband shortly after she was diagnosed with Chordoma
The woman she used to be: Lu Hongfang with her son before the tumours began to grow
Ms Hongfang originally thought the first swelling on her forehead, which appeared in 2001, was an infected insect bite.
‘It didn’t even itch or ache in any way – but it also didn’t go away and in fact just got bigger and bigger,’ she said.
NIGHTMARE CANCER THAT HAS RUINED A MOTHER’S LIFE
Li Hongfang has Chordoma which is a type of bone cancer which causes tissue to grow.
The most common place where the tumours begin to grow is in the skull and at the bottom of the spine.
Although global figures are not available, in the US the cancer affects around one in a million people.
In western countries, a sufferer would have the tumour removed before being given high doses of radiation therapy.
But because of China’s healthcare system, Ms Hongfang has been unable to afford proper care.
The cancer may be rare, but there have been some instances of several members of the same family being hit by the tumours.
When her condition was finally diagnosed four years later, doctors said she had seven tumours growing on her face.
Ms Hongfang was living with her husband and two sons at the time, in Tianchao village, Qianxian county, in west China’s Shaanxi province.
She said: ‘We didn’t have much money but we were very happy and we loved each other and our two boys. I would say life was good then.’
Soon after wards, her sorrows increased after her husband died.
By 2009 she met Guo Yingping, 40, an orphan, and the two became friends and later married. Her two sons, now aged 17 and 14, have now left home to work.
She added: ‘I know that a lot of people see me as a monster but I am just a normal woman and a mother inside.’
The mother of two is one of many victims of China’s health service falling apart when the old state system was dismantled and medical fees introduced.
Tens of millions of people, particularly those living in the countryside, cannot access a doctor and cannot afford treatment.
Officials are debating a programme which aims to provide health insurance for all its 1.3billion people by 2020, but at present, the health system falls far behind the needs of those it is supposed to be treating.
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