A two year old girl from Papua New Guinea who, over the course of many weeks, began to be unwell, irritable, lethargic and developed a huge lump in her abdomen. The school teacher father had seen the swelling in the little girl’s abdomen develop over weeks, but the lack of easy access to a doctor was one of the many factors keeping her from treatment. Examination and x-rays showed the lump to be occupying much of her abdomen and half of the left side of the chest.
A six hour operation was performed by the Kind Cuts for Kids team, working with the doctors and nurses from Papua New Guinea, to remove the lump. The abdominal operation removed a huge tumour known as a benign teratoma, which was adherent to the pericardium (membrane around the heart) and the oesophagus.
The girl made a spectacular recovery, seen in the picture below on day 2 (eating a banana), and went home with her family on the 5th post operative day.