16-y-o seeks help to remove tumour and bring back smile

THOUGH REMAINING optimistic, 40-year-old Evelyn Cordiel said she was unexpectedly thrown into a state of despair earlier this year when her daughter, Nittia Deleon, was diagnosed with ameloblastoma, a rare and fast-growing tumour in her jaw which has left her with a swollen, misshapen face.

Since the discovery, the St Elizabeth bar operator said she has been struggling to fund her 16-year-old daughter’s medical bills out of pocket, but her financial situation worsened when the Government ordered all bars closed in March to contain the spread of the coronavirus on the island.

Cordiel is looking forward to today’s reopening of community bars and taverns, albeit under strict conditions to still restrict gatherings, for an initial period of 14 days. Sports bars, nightclubs and other places of amusement, where alcohol would normally be sold, will remain closed.

“I am a single mom of two, so it is kind of very hard at this time – no income, no nothing. The little savings I had is gone because I spent up maybe half of a million dollars already in her medical bills. She lost about two teeth already with the biopsy, and she is to lose about six more when she does the surgery, then after surgery, she is going to need implants,” Cordiel told The Gleaner.

“They have to take a bone from her hip to replace the jaw and the doctor is saying that when they do the surgery, after a period of time, the bone shrinks, so he doesn’t want it to shrink, so he wants to do the implant right after surgery, and that is almost as costly as the surgery. One implant is almost $300,000 and she is looking at more than 10 implants, but we won’t know how much more for sure until she does another X-ray,” the concerned mom said.

She disclosed that the cost of the surgery is $2,650,000.

According to Cordiel, although her daughter’s tumour is not currently cancerous, she fears that if the surgery is not done urgently, it could prove disastrous for her child.

Emotional roller-coaster

Still in high spirits, Deleon, a student at Hampton School, said the unexpected discovery of the tumour sent her on an emotional roller-coaster ride, but she has been embracing the positive lessons from the unfortunate circumstances.

“I don’t think I would change it because it is really teaching me a lot so far, when it comes to dealing with other people because I can’t really hide it and people obviously are going to look at you just like how most people look at people who are kind of different,” she said.

“When people look at me now, I just want them to not see my illness, but see me as a person, and it has really taught me to stop looking at people’s physical appearance because there is more to them. This has also taught me to be grateful,” added Deleon, who harbours dreams of becoming a nurse.

Those willing to help the vibrant 16-year-old can make donations at her GoFundMe page at https://tinyurl.com/deleonsmile.

danae.hyman@gleanerjm.com