The girl who needed a new face.

 Today I saw a documentary about a girl who is only a few months older than me and was diagnosed with a very rare disease called polyostotic fibrous dysplasia which is a genetic condition in which the bone structure is replaced by connective tissue.

Marlie Casseus, a girl from Port-au-Prince, Haiti seemed to be no different from other children until approximately the age of four. That’s when her disease started to grow and deform her facial features. By the age of thirteen the disease had grown to the point where she had to carry her face in her hands, could not eat nor breathe properly and was in danger of losing her eyesight. Her face had changed beyond recognition. In her hometown, Marlie was avoided by the other people as they thought that she’d been cursed. She became the target of ridicule and mockery which ultimately caused her to isolate herself from others and endure her pain silently.

No doctor who had examined her knew what was happening to her until she received help from an American doctor named Jesús Gomez, working in the Holtz’ Children Hospital in Miami. Her parents had heard of the high-caliber hospital and it’s International Kids Fund, which in the end financed their daughter’s surgery, through a previous case.

Dr. Gomez managed to remove the massive 7-kg tissue in two operations and by doing so, saved Marlie’s life. Afterwards, Marlie underwent several other operations, but only for cosmetic surgery. Sadly, she is still in danger as her condition is likely to grow as long as her body hasn’t fully grown yet.

 I thought it was mind-boggling what the surgeon had achieved by using his skills. Personally, this is one of the hardest jobs that I could imagine. Not only do you need to have nerves of steel and a strong stomach, but a very creative mind to find alternatives for extremely rare cases like Marlie. He had to reconstruct her entire face and replace the tissue with synthetic bones and metal plates. Just the first operation already took exhausting seventeen hours to complete. With time, he also became a friend to his patient. Mustn’t it be hard to remain objective when you establish a relationship to the person you’re treating?

I know this post isn’t very closely job-related, but when I heard of Marlie Casseus’ case, it did make me think about the assets and drawback of being a surgeon. Just going to med school already sounds really challenging, at least that’s the impression I got from what I heard from good friends of mine. Doctors carry a heavy burden on their shoulders as only one mistake could cost someone’s life. I think it’s admiring how they cope with this huge responsibility and the pressure that comes with it.