Friday December 8, 2006

ALOR STAR: SPM school-leaver Hong Siew Hui who went to China in May to remove a facial tumour will return to Malaysia on Tuesday – minus the 3kg growth.

The tumour was successfully removed at the Fuda Cancer Hospital in Guangzhou where she had been warded since May 15. She had the condition since birth.

Hong, 18, from Taman Bersatu in Simpang Empat here, is scheduled to arrive at the Penang International Airport on Dec 12, Kedah Chinese Assembly Hall (KCAH) president Datuk Wong Gin Chee told a press conference here yesterday.

She will be accompanied by another Kedahan, Tan Kia Khim, 25, who also had a facial tumour removed at the same hospital earlier.

The surgeries were made possible by KCAH which set up a special medical fund to send them to China to remove the tumours.

Tan, a coffeeshop assistant from Alor Star, had returned to Malaysia on July 18 after his tumour was removed but returned to the same hospital on Nov 11 to have his face “touched up.”

Wong said KCAH would charter a bus to bring family members of both patients from Alor Star to welcome them at the Penang airport.

He thanked the public for contributing to the fund to enable both youths to have “new faces.”

Hong and Tan would be accompanied by several officials from the Fuda Hospital as well as television journalists from Guangzhou.

Their surgery had involved many steps such as cutting the tumour skin, removing the tumour, a “cryoablation procedure” to freeze the tumour, stitching back the wound and repeating the cryoablation procedure.

There was also a “Transarterial Intervention Therapy” to prevent excessive bleeding until the hard-core tissues were completely destroyed and removed.