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Vietnamese Girl With Alarming Condition Gets Surgery

By CBS

Published: Wed, April 23, 2008 - 1:17 pm Last Updated: Wed, April 23, 2008 - 1:22 pm

Short URL: http://wkrg.com/a/13120/

A Vietnamese girl is in South Florida for help with an ailment that threatens to take her breath away. Lai Thi Dao does not look her age. She is 15-years old, but the huge tumor growing on her face has stunted her growth.

She recently arrived in South Florida to get life-saving surgery on the likely largest Schwannoma tumor ever reported in the world. Lai Thi Dao has a tumor that has been growing inside her mouth for the past ten years. The tumor has grown so large that she has difficulty talking, eating and sleeping, and the tumor is likely one day to cut off her throat's air passage.

The International Kids Fund (IKF), an organization dedicated to helping children overcome serious illness, is making sure Lai receives treatment so she can live a normal life like any other teenage girl.

I-K-F, along with the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center, will provide the surgery in the coming weeks.

I-K-F is seeking help from the public to raise the estimated 107-thousand dollar cost of the treatment. Since Lai is not a U-S resident, a public hospital cannot use taxpayers' money to pay for her treatment.

Schwannoma tumors are usually benign and unlikely to return once removed.

International Kids Fund
Re: Lai Thi Dao
P.O. Box 2020
Miami, FL 33101
Toll Free: 1-877-IKF-KIDS (1-877-453-5437)
Donations can also be made online by visiting www.internationalkidsfund.org