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It was the surgery a three-year-old girl’s parents from Brazil pleaded for in order to remove a massive tumour from their child’s face. And one month later, the surgical procedure was deemed a success.

Melyssa Braga was almost unrecognizable after her 10-hour surgery to remove a disfiguring tumour that had been growing in her face.

“When we were able to remove this tumour, this tumour weighed over five pounds,” said Dr. G.E. Ghali during a news conference Tuesday morning. Tweet This

Ghali was one of the doctors who performed the life-changing surgery on Melyssa on Dec. 20.

“A child that probably doesn’t weigh more than 25 pounds herself, total weight,” Gali added. Tweet This

It all began when Dr. Celso Palmieri, an assistant professor in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, La., was reading online publications from his home country of Brazil. Palmieri stumbled upon a post where Melyssa’s parents begged for help to get their daughter to the U.S. to have her tumour removed.

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With the help of his colleagues, Palmieri was able to arrange for the procedure Melyssa needed and was even able to find housing for the family and get the cost of the hospital stay underwritten, even though the family had been saving up for the trip.

Within a month, Melyssa had her surgery.

Doctors at LSU Health have deemed the procedure a success but stressed that she will continue to need surgeries as she gets older.

But for now, Melyssa is recovering from her first procedure.

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