A TAXI driver who developed a giant double chin after leaving a tumour untreated for 15 years has finally had it removed – thanks to a passenger.
Adolfo Abo, from the Phillipines, started suffering neck pain in 1993.
But, after spending his life savings of £600 on doctor’s appointments and drugs, he couldn’t afford an operation.
He left the lump unchecked, leaving the non-cancerous tumour to spread, engulfing his neck and part of his chest.
The giant mass left the 59-year-old looking like the Incredible Hulk.
His condition became so dire, he could no longer turn his head to look in his taxi’s side mirrors.
He also struggled to bend down to pick up luggage.
But, after one kind-hearted passenger photographed him and made an appeal online, Adolfo has finally had the op he so desperately needed.
After his story was broadcast on TV, strangers donated to help foot the bill for the surgery.
Dad-of-three Adolfo had the tumour removed last month and can now return to work to support his family.
He said: “It was getting harder and harder for me to move, especially carrying the passengers’ baggage.
“It was hard for me to turn my head, to see see the car’s side-mirror so I had to move my entire body. This was very difficult.
I’ll be eternally grateful to everybody who helped me. Now I can work again. I can support my family. I could never have dreamed of this happening.
Adolfo Abo
“I didn’t have a choice so I just endured. My biggest worry was that I wouldn’t be around to support my family.”
Adolfo is married to Juliano, a housewife who suffers from chronic asthma which costs £6 a day to treat.
She is unable to work because she is full-time carer for the couple’s son Novilyn, who is deaf and blind.
Adolfo’s operation cost around £10,000, a price the taxi driver could never have hoped to afford on his own.
Surgeons at the Urology Clinic Luna Goco Medical Center in Capalan City removed the growth, during an op that took several hours.
And now Adolfo’s upper body is virtually back to how it was 20 years ago, with all the excess mass and skin removed.
He said: “I’ll be eternally grateful to everybody who helped me.
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“Now I can work again. I can support my family.
“I can even turn my head to check the mirrors.
“I could never have dreamed of this happening. I am so thankful.”
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