A woman with a 'one-of-a-kind' disease which causes 'thousands' of tumors to grow all over her body can now finally see her own face again after undergoing more than 60 hours of surgery while completely conscious.
Charmaine Sahadeo, 42, was struggling to breathe, eat, talk and walk due to the countless growths which cover her skin, leaving her fearing that she would 'die' without being able to alert anyone.
Her scalp, mouth, face, legs, buttocks, genitals and breasts have been invaded with the tumors of varying sizes since she was younger, meaning simple tasks such as walking more than a few steps left her in unbearable agony.
The mom, from Chaguanas, Trinidad, suffers from a rare multi-system disorder which causes growths to sprout up along nerves in the body, which is known as NF-1 neurofibromatosis.
The severity of the genetic condition varies, but according to the NHS, most people who suffer with it experience severe issues with their skin.
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Symptoms include light or dark brown patches showing up anywhere on the body, soft, non-cancerous tumors on or under the skin, clusters of freckles in unusual places and problems with your bones, eyes and nervous system.
Charmaine said her health issues seemed to become 'a lot worse' following the birth of her second child around 20 years ago, as she went onto develop 'thousands of lumps'.
One of these was almost entirely obstructing her nose, making it difficult to breathe, while another in her mouth - who she dubbed 'Frank' - made it extremely painful to eat or talk.
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Due to an excessively large growth on her leg, the 42-year-old explained she struggles to move her body and has to rearrange some of the growths just to sit down or urinate.
She also claims that NF-1 neurofibromatosis contributed to the demise of her 18-year marriage and her financial hardship over the years, as she struggled to settle into a workplace.
Appearing on TLC's Take My Tumor, the mom said: "All the bumps are getting so big. I am afraid that if I cannot breathe properly I will die. I might not even be able to reach out to someone in time to tell them.
"This condition is very hard because people just like to stare and then have all kinds of negative things to say."
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But thanks to the incredible work of Dr Ryan Osborne, Charmaine has now been given a new lease of life.
She got in touch with the head and neck surgical oncologist and director of the Osborne Head and Neck Institute in hopes that the Los Angeles-based medic could help her.
Dr Osborne told the patient that it was 'urgent right now that we intervene' as she was 'encroaching on some dangerous territory' as the growths continued to multiply.
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He said that although some might view surgical intervention as 'high risk', he felt it would be 'high impact' instead.
The medic explained: "She has an unusual presentation of neurofibromatosis. It's literally everywhere.
"I have personally never seen a patient clinically, and I have never seen one in a textbook, have it quite as bad as Charmaine. She appears to me to be a one-of-a-kind."
Over a period of more than two months, the doctor performed several surgeries to get rid of the masses on the mom's skin - which she sat through while being wide awake.
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Due to the sheer amount of tumors on her body, the team could not find a vein to inject her with anaesthesia, but Charmaine agreed to undergo the operation while completely conscious with only local anaesthetics.
Dr Osborne was able to get rid of dozens of growths, including Frank, the large tumor on her leg and numerous intruding ones on her face.
Over a ten week period, Charmaine underwent 24 operations which totted up to over 60 hours of surgery.
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Showing off the incredible results, she said: "Life is 100 percent better for me. I love the way that I look now.
"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," Charmaine added. "I cannot expect anything better."
Olivia Burke