Jonathan Block
Doctors in Virginia have removed a four-pound tumor from the face of a Haitian teen during surgery that took 12 hours.
Hennglise Dorvial, 15, had the benign tumor, which started out four years ago as pea-sized inside her sinus, known as a ameloblastoma, removed by a three-person medical team at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk on April 28.
The surgery was organized for by Operation Smile, an international children’s medical charity that performs cleft lip and cleft palate surgery for children in low and middle income countries. Funding for the operation came primarily from Larry O’Reilly, the vice chairman of O’Reilly Auto Parts, who met Hennglise during a trip to Haiti in 2011.
Hennglise Dorvial, 15, prior to her surgery, when the four-pound tumor known as a ameloblastoma was still inside her sinus
Hennglise (center) is examined by a doctor at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia as her mother, Yvrose (left), look on
Hennglise after the surgery. Her doctors say the vision in her left eye will likely never return
Operation Smile cofounder and CEO, Dr. William McGee, was one of the surgeons who removed Dorvial’s tumor. He added it’s the largest tumor he has ever removed.
Before the surgery, Hennglise told FoxNews.com she wasn’t nervous about the procedure.
‘I want to look in the mirror and see I’m not the same,’ she said.
Hennglise is fortunate the tumor had not invaded the base of the skull. However, chances are slim that her vision in her left eye will return, according to WVEC.
The operating room at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters on April 28 in Norfolk during Hennglise’s surgery
Surgeons work to remove the tumor on Hennglise’s face
During the surgery, Magee did a relatively small segmental bone repositioning of the left lower jaw. The tumor also changed the angulation of the lower jaw so follow up surgery will likely be necessary.
Hennglise left school in the 5th grade after her tumor doubled in size in a year. She says her 14-year-old sister is her only friend.
Henenglise’s mother, Yvrose, says she can’t wait to go back to Haiti so her family can see the results of the surgery in person.
Yvrose and Henneglise will be in Virginia Beach, next to Norfolk and where Operation Smile is headquartered, for at least six weeks before they go back home.
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