Chinese Mother Ill From Facial Tumors - 6/12/12

Chinese mother-of-two disfigured by seven tumours on her face but she cannot afford to have them removed

By ROB COOPER

PUBLISHED: 09:12 EST, 11 June 2012 | UPDATED: 18:23 EST, 11 June 2012

A Chinese mother-of-two has been left disfigured by tumours which have been growing on her face for the last ten years.

Li Hongfang, 40, is shunned in public because of the rare condition which has caused her face to slowly swell.

She has been unable to get medical treatment for Chordoma because she cannot afford it. The illness is a form of bone cancer which causes tissue to grow.

The trouble started in 2001 when she noticed a small patch of swelling on her forehead which she initially ignored because it was not painful.

When her condition was finally diagnosed four years later, doctors said she had seven tumours growing on her face.

But she has been unable to pay the £60,000 or 600,000 yuan medical bill and has been forced to watch them slowly grow.

The mother said: 'I know that a lot of people see me as a monster but I am just a normal woman and a mother inside.'

When she was diagnosed, she was living with her husband and two sons in Tianchao village, in Qianxian county, in west China’s Shaanxi province.

She said: 'We didn't have much money but we were very happy and we loved each other and our two boys. I would say life was good then. READ MORE HERE