How compassionate LA specialist helped mom covered in thousands of tumors ... trends now
An LA surgeon changed the life of a mother-of-two when he removed thousands of agonizing tumors from her body during more than 60 hours of painstaking surgery.
Dr Ryan Osborne, who felt compelled to take on the 'one-of-a-kind case' after hearing about her desperate situation, carried out a total of 24 operations on patient Charmaine Sahadeo over 10 weeks.
Ms Sahadeo, a mother-of-two from Trinidad, suffers from the rare condition NF-1 neurofibromatosis, which resulted in growths on her scalp, in her mouth, all over her face, arms, legs, buttocks, breasts and on her genital region.
She had already undergone two surgeries in her home country to help with the debilitating disorder, but decided she needed to seek more help abroad, and launched a fundraiser in the hope of traveling to the US.
After years of waiting, she finally found Dr Osborne, an award-winning head and neck surgeon who was determined to help her overcome what is widely seen as one of the most serious cases of neurofibromatosis in the world.
Dr Ryan Osborne said he felt compelled to take on the 'one-of-a-kind case' after hearing about the patient's desperate situation
Dr Osborne speaks to tumor patient Charmaine Sahadeo as he assesses her condition on TLC show Take My Tumor
Dr Osborne was featured on TLC's Take My Tumor, helping Ms Sahadeo to start a new life free of the tumors she has been forced to live with for so many years.
Speaking to his patient on the show, Dr Osborne told her that because of how severe her neurofibromatosis is, she was 'encroaching on some dangerous territory', but that intervention was 'urgent'.
He explained how removing the thousands of tumors would be a complicated and long process, requiring multiple surgeries over more than two months.
With each tumor removed, he said, pieces of skin would also need to be taken, raising the risk of infection each time. This meant the procedures had to be done over multiple sessions.
How quickly they would work also depended on how much pain Ms Sahadeo could tolerate.
Dr Osborne said: 'You're not going to feel anything during the surgery. It's when you wake up. If I took this all off, it would be as if someone skinned you alive and I couldn't give you enough pain medication to keep you comfortable.'
Despite the pain, Ms Sahadeo
