Comm, Nine year old, Trinny Amuhirwe is no different from other girls her age, Except an aggressive bone tumor is threatening to take over her entire face.
Sarah, The tumor started when she was one and a half.
It was just a small thing, but it started growing big.
Comm, The two kilogram tumor is so big that it has blinded Trinny in one eye and made eating almost impossible.
If left untreated, it would have dire consequences for Trinny’s future.
Sarah, It was feeling like she was going to die.
Comm.
Trinny was discovered living in Kampala, Uganda, by Uk charity Facing The World, Graham.
Graham Banton Facing the World
We were contacted in August- Mid-August by a nurse, an American nurse working in Kampala, who’d come across Trinny.
She basically sent us a couple of photos and said that she’d met this girl.
Was there anything that we thought we could do for her?
Trinny has a condition which is called Fibrous Dysplasia.
It’s where normal bone tissue is basically replaced by fibrous bone tissue which just keeps growing, so it destroys the good bone.
The scale of it can vary, and Trinny’s is a very severe case, Graham, I was quite shocked to see Trinny’s condition.
It’s not something you see everyday, Graham.
The place where it’s growing on her skull will impact her ability to breathe and to eat.
That’s why we had to bring her over so quickly for surgery.
Comm Trinny was flown to the Uk by the charity in the hope that surgeons would be able to remove the tumor.
Niall Kirkpatrick Consultant Plastic Craniofacial
Niall, You can see quick, clearly the extent of this benign tumor, which is growing forwards in the face and distorting the bone of the cheek, the upper jaw and actually also between the eyes.
These are rare tumors.
They’re not cancer tumors that are going to kill you in any way, but they’re benign tumors but they have devastating consequences and to see cases that are as extensive as this are extremely rare.
So I wasn’t expecting the little bundle of energy that she was when she arrived, because you realize that Trinny is just the same as any other little girl and beyond her condition, she is in to the exact same things as other girls are in to Comm.
As the day of her operation arrived, some of the Uk’s leading surgeons who work with the charity were waiting to operate on Trinny.
Lucy Wright Facing the World
Actually, She is the most wonderful child and everything she encounters delights her.
She gets very excited about all sorts of things – seeing the sea for the first time, being on the pier and playing on the games.
She just takes it all in.
She’s wonderful
And that makes me happy.
Sarah, When I look at her now, I feel very happy, Comm.
And now Trinny is ready to fly home with Mum Sarah.
Trinny, After my operation, I feel good.
I can eat well.
When I go home, I’m looking forward to going to school.
Sarah, I’m very thankful for the doctors for the great work that they did.
I think now Trinny will have a future which she wouldn’t have had before.
Graham.
We see lots of patients every year at Facing The World, but Trinny is really one of those ones that’s really quite special.
I really hope that her surgery gives her the opportunity to carry on with her education and basically have options to do whatever she wants to do.