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: 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: 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.
JONATHAN: If left untreated, Trinny would
face a very bleak future really. There is no doubt the disease will continue to expand.
COMM: London is a long way from her home in
Uganda, and like any other nine year old, Trinny was exited to be in a new city.
GRAHAM: I originally thought, as often with
the case of our patients, is that they are very shy, very downcast, 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.
JONATHAN: Trinny's care involves an enormous
number of people. We've got anecdotists, surgeons, theatre staff, computer planners, pediatricians
and they are all giving their time for free, mainly to make Trinny's operation as successful
as possible.
GRAHAM: It's a massive operation. It's gonna
take a minimum of about fifteen hours. The operation that Trinny will be having is a
very risky operation and with that there's very real dangers that she might not survive.
SARAH: Trinny has a hope that one time, one
day, that thing will come off. That's the hope she has. That's what she's waiting for.
I'm also waiting for to see how she'll look like.
COMM: As the surgeons started work to remove
the tumor and reconstruct Trinny's face, they were all acutely aware of the dangers they
faced operating on someone with a condition as severe as Trinny's.
NIALL: There are a number of things that could
go wrong, and death is one of the complications.
COMM: And now, after recovering from a successful
surgery, Trinny has her childhood back. No longer held back by the tumor, she's able
to be the boisterous cheeky girl she previously was, and she's able to fulfill a wish to see
the sea for the first time.
TRAIN: This service will be fast to Brighton.
TRINNY: Yes!
LUCY: It's been wonderful getting to know
Trinny and Sarah. I first met them back in November when they arrived. From a personal
point of view, I'm delighted 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.