A woman who was covered in thousands of tumours across her face and body has finally been able to see her face again after life-changing surgery. Charmaine shared her story on TLC programme Take My Tumour, where she revealed her NF-1 neurofibromatosis diagnosis, a genetic condition that causes tumours to grow along nerves. The 43-year-old was covered in them all over, including her lips, ears, nose, arms, and legs, which held her back from walking for more than a few minutes and could even be detrimental to her breathing. However, after 60 hours of surgery, she’s left saying: ‘I really do feel beautiful now.’ The mum-of-two travelled from Trinidad to LA for the life-changing operation, which had incredible results. She had previously said: ‘All I’m asking for is just a little relief. I want my face to clear up so I will see and breathe properly and I will not have a problem with my mouth. ‘Doctors never said they were able to help or do anything before. Now that I finally have the opportunity and I have a doctor that is willing to help – I am willing to go all the way. ‘I’m putting my faith in this doctor because this is my last hope.’ To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Charmaine underwent hours of surgery, some of those while she was awake, for medical experts to remove dozens of tumours all over her body, including a particularly large one on her leg that had been throwing her off balance. Across 10 weeks, Charmaine was operated on 24 times, for a total of 60 hours. And the results were truly remarkable, with Charmaine finally able to see her own face. In quotes obtained by MailOnline, she said: ‘Life is 100 percent better for me.’ ‘I love the way that I look now,’ she added. ‘Before I couldn’t see anything at all – like my face – but now you can naturally see my eyes. You can see my nose. You can see my mouth. I can see properly and most important, I can breathe much better.’ ‘I feel beautiful. I really do feel beautiful now. I feel fantastic. I came back a different person. I cannot expect anything better,’ the grandmother went on. Charmaine had earlier been warned by doctors that their ability to remove some of the tumours depended on her pain threshhold. The medical expert, Dr Osborne, told her: ‘You’re not going to feel anything during the surgery. It’s when you wake up. If I took this all off, it would be as if someone skinned you alive and I couldn’t give you enough pain medication to keep you comfortable.’ At an initial consultation, Dr Osborne admitted Charmaine’s condition was something he had never seen before, and worried about her ability to breathe through her nose, because it’s blocked by tumours, and her mouth, because she has one of the growths going into it often, because of its placement on her lip. ‘There’s no hole there,’ the doctor remarked, adding: ‘It’s everywhere. I’ve personally seen a patient clinically and never seen it in a textbook have it as bad as Charmaine. She appears to be one of a kind.’ To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video He went on: ‘Her face and neck is basically tumour, and somewhere in there is Charmaine.’ Strictly star announces split from girlfriend 4 years after 'deeply sad' divorce
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Friends after revealing 'secret' pregnancy Mel B shuts down Dermot O'Leary in This Morning behind-the-scenes clip ‘We’re really trying to sculpt her out of this tumour,’ he added. Dr Osborne continued: ‘She’s biting them as they pop in and out of her mouth. She’s having trouble breathing through her nose as her nose is being literally obliterated. She’s having visual problems. ‘Charmaine is encroaching on some dangerous territory, her breathing is going to become compromised. ‘The one thing we don’t want to do is get her in a position where she’s in respiratory distress, so I think it’s urgent right now that we intervene at this time.’ Charmaine’s condition developed when she was just 13 years old, and was passed on to her from her mother. ‘But for her, it is not as bad as mine,’ she had explained, in an earlier preview clip. She went on: ‘When I started to have these tumours, it wasn’t as big as they are now. I had a couple on my face, it was never all these thousands I have now.’ Before the surgery, Charmaine was unable to wear tight clothes, especially because of a particularly large growth on her leg. ‘I don’t want to wear anything to hurt the bump, to cause it to bleed,’ she said. She continued: ‘I got it from an early stage when I started secondary school. The doctors here in Trinidad didn’t know much about neurofibromatosis, they couldn’t help. According to the NHS, NF1 is a condition people are born with, but symptoms can develop gradually over many years. The tumours are usually non-cancerous and benign, but can cause symptoms including neurofibromas, birthmarks, freckles in unusual places, or problems with bones, eyes and the nervous system. NF1 is caused by a faulty gene, and there’s a 1 in 2 chance a child will develop NF1 if either the mother or father has it. There’s currently no cure for the condition, but treatment can involve surgery, medicine to control secondary conditions, physiotherapy and pain management. Around 1 in 3,000 people have the condition, but Charmaine’s case is extreme. If you or someone you know is affected by Neurofibromatosis visit www.nervetumours.org.uk for support and further information ‘As the years go by, it just got worse. But, I never believed it would have come out so much on my face.’ The swelling on one of her legs left her unable to walk alone for too long, as she said: ‘If I walk for five minutes I will have to stop and rest.’ She added that the weight on one side of her body has thrown her balance off, and the slightest thing could make her trip over and fall. Take My Tumour airs Wednesdays on TLC in America. Got a story? If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you. MORE : ‘I have thousands of tumours all over my body because of a ‘one of a kind’ condition – I can barely breathe’ MORE : Woman with huge ‘unicorn bump’ suffers from headaches because of the ‘pressure’ above her eye MORE :
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