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Woman Undergoes Surgery To Remove Hundreds Of Tumours Over Body

Woman Undergoes Surgery To Remove Hundreds Of Tumours Over Body

Libby Huffer suffers from a genetic neurological disorder which causes cancerous bumps to appear all over her body...

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

A woman with a genetic neurological disorder has had a dramatic transformation after undergoing surgery to remove hundreds of tumours growing on her face and neck.

Libby Huffer suffered relentless bullying for years, with people making fun at the cancerous bumps caused by her neurofibromatosis.

Credit: Caters

The 45-year-old has the team on US medical show The Doctors for providing not only the resources to have the surgery completed, but also a platform for her to raise awareness of her condition.

Libby underwent electrodessication and CO2 laser surgeries to help remove the roughly one thousand tumours covering her face and neck.

The photographer says: "I am very happy with the results and hope to have the rest of them removed some day.

"I have had about 1,000 of the fibromas removed so far.

Caters

"My friends and family say that I look great and they notice a huge difference.

"My life hasn't been any different since surgery other than I have raised lots of awareness for NF, which has always been my biggest goal.

"There's still a long way to go to heal the emotional damage I've undergone over the years, but I know that will only improve over time."

She hopes that the more surgeries she has and the more tumours she gets rid of, she'll be able to forget the 'painful childhood memories' that have stayed with her into her adult life.

Caters

The bullying was so intense that she changed her name to Libby from Elizabeth after kids at school would call her 'lizard breath' and 'toad'. The 45-year-old first developed the condition when she was a teenager.

Your teenage years are hard enough to navigate - imagine doing your normal adolescent stuff while you had hundreds of bumps growing over your skin. Libby says the condition was exacerbated after the birth of her first child due to the hormones activated during the pregnancy.

She adds that because her condition isn't widely known, people often have misconceptions about the tumours and fear they might 'catch it' if they come into contact with her.

Caters

"I'm not contagious," Libby says, "I have a neurological genetic disorder that cause tumours to form on the both inside and outside of the body wherever there are nerves present.

"I am a human being too, all I want is to be adored and cared for like anyone else."

She's hoping to get the rest of the bumps surgically removed in the coming months and years.

Featured Image Credit: Caters

Topics: Awesome, Inspirational, Community, Cancer, Condition