[Music]
which bothered and bewildered
Becky Thompson has spent most of her
life loving music but with the high
notes come below and for the past 50
years Becky has also been battling what
she calls various cancer skirmishes her
breast cancer led to a mastectomy and
then numerous surgeries to remove
recurrent skin cancer from her face and
when I went to Sunnybrook and my nose
was removed I was told they would
continue to exercise until they got
clean edges again I didn't know how much
of my face would be left sometimes it's
not the decision that you'd like to make
but if it's if it's going to improve
your health I think you have to take a
chance the surgery left Becky with a
different face and in a different place
in her cancer journey the changes your
whole appearance and no one knows what
to do for you excluding yourself at
first but Becky did find help and hope
here at Sunnybrook's craniofacial
prosthetics unit one of only two
dedicated Hospital centers in Canada
this multidisciplinary team of highly
trained experts meticulously rebuild
ears noses cheeks foreheads and
eyesockets the sum of these parts being
an identity that patients can then carry
on with says clinical anaplastologist
David Morrison everyone sees our
patients walking in they're all sitting
out there in their atrium between
appointments out there with bandages and
plasters on their faces and these
everyone sees them out there and they
all see them walking in but nobody ever
sees them leave when they're done that's
testament to the work Morrison does with
fellow anaplastologist Todd kuben the
first thing that we do is we'll plan for
where the implants are going to go each
prosthesis can take up to two weeks to
complete after initial impressions of
the defect site are made a wax
prosthesis is sculpted then this creates
the silicone prosthesis that will be
fitted to the patient and it's entirely
custom color match to the patient's
complexion
no detail is overlooked so in the end
the prosthesis has all the same
blemishes freckles and moles as the rest
of the patients face
they're not like special-effects pieces
most people think they are special
effects pieces are beautiful of course
but they only last a day as designs the
last two years at least often things
like reading glasses and facial hair are
used to help disguise where the silicone
blends in to the rest of the skin
Becky initially had to glue her
prosthetic nose on using a medical grade
adhesive but eventually had surgery to
insert titanium studs for a more
permanent fit
I'd like to brag about how great the
guys are so you ready for this Chantel
bringin brig oh yeah see this is my
little railroad here my titanium studs
it's an option for some patients but ku
Vaughn says the decision on whether or
not to even get a prosthesis is an
individual one every year between 50 to
70 patients come through the doors of
this clinic while the numbers are small
kuben says the impact is huge they can
go out in public and feel comfortable
about themselves and not worry that
they're that they're being looked at but
ultimately the main goal is we want to
get the patient comfortable with the way
they are without the prosthesis because
you know that's the way they're only
gonna be really truly comfortable with
themselves since 1989 Becky has been a
volunteer for about face an organization
founded to support people with facial
differences by sharing her story she
hopes to help others like her you have
to have a some sort of belief in
yourself and believe in you finding a
good medical team is part of their of
the I think the biggest concern and I
talked about Sunnybrook all the time
about it being in a desert of cancer my
oasis this is the nice one this is your
sundae one it
is really nice with Sunnyview I'm Monica
matys