Jose Mestre, 51 years old, started with a smallish tumour on his lip in adolescence, he now has a bloody tumour that obliterates his face.
Jose is a Jehovah’s Witness and for years has refused any sort of surgery on this terrible facial mutation but he has now been given hope by a British doctor and new medical technology.
The tumour is now 15 inches long and weighs 12 pounds, it has blinded him in one eye and eating is extremely difficult. Now, however new technology has made it possible to treat Jose by employing ultrasound waves to coagulate the blood before the surgery, as due to his beliefs he is unwilling to accept a blood transfusions.
There were two doctors who examined Jose in Britain, the consultant plastic surgeon, Loshan Kangesu and Dr Iain Hutchinson. It is Dr. Hutchinson who runs the ‘Saving Face’ Charity and feels that a lot can be achieved by one operation. He said “I think we can remove a large proportion of the lesions - around 80%, we would then have to deal with the underlying nose, lip and tongue disfigurement.” He added “I have never seen a vascular malformity as bad.”
The condition that Jose suffers from, haemangioma, stems from abnormalities in the capillaries and veins in his face.
A normal day for Jose starts as he sets off from home in a suburb of Lisbon and goes to one of the city’s main plaza’s, here he sits and idles away the afternoon where he has become somewhat of a local celebrity. He of course is unable to work and cannot get a girlfriend, so he is supported by his siblings since the death of his mother, who was herself a Jehovah witness and Jose was very close to her.
Jose has a distrust of doctors due to unhappy and unsuccessful visits to Europe in search of medical care in his youth, plus his loyalty to his mother’s faith and concerns about life without his mask to which he had become accustomed have not helped.
The rest of Jose’s close family do not share his religious beliefs and it infuriates them and it was during the consultation with Dr. Hutchinson in London, that Jose’s sister, Guida grew angry at her brother’s reluctance to even discuss the option of a transfusion-free operation. She said to him “Die alone, not with me. For me, finished.” It is Guida that does the majority of the caring for her brother.
Fortunately, Jose now seems ready to confront his condition, he has at least in principle agreed to Dr. Hutchinson’s exploratory operations on one of his smaller lesions at the hospital in London. If this one works it may be possible to remove the majority of the tumour and rebuild his face during a 12 hour operation.
Dr. Hutchinson has offered to do the operation free of charge but must now wait for Jose and his family to get in touch and make the appointment, he said “I hope that he is well and in reasonable health, and if he wants to come and see me my door is open.”
‘Saving Face’ is the only charity in the UK solely dedicated to the worldwide reduction of facial injuries and diseases. It funds education and research to improve the physical and psychological treatment of all victims of oral cancer and other facial diseases.
2 comments so far
1 Karen Richards // Mar 31, 2008 at 10:47 pm
I was touched by the plight of Jose and the support from family and friends. We are keen to know if Jose has began his surgery and how he is progressing. We are praying for his welbeing.
Kindest Regards
2 Vincent // Apr 11, 2008 at 8:29 am
I feel for that jose having this such problems with the face. It would be preferred if he left that cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses and give him a transfusion, then he may be well respected.
I used to be involved with the Jw cult myself until last year when I heard about the mother of twins and now they are banned from knocking on my door.