After 39-Hours of Surgery, This Woman has 2kg of Tumour Removed from Her Face

Tambu, before her surgery

Her name is Tambu Makinzi, from Cape-Town, South Africa.

She began to suspect that something was wrong with her when she began to constantly suffer from constant headaches.

Only weeks later, her forehead began to swell and doctors revealed that the 27-year-old was suffering from chondrosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.

 more pictures after ..........

While the mother-of-one received treatment for the cancer, it returned earlier this year – and proved to be more life-threatening than ever.

The tumour covered her entire face, her nasal and jaw bones, displaced her left eye, and even robbed her of a sense of smell.

And after arriving for treatment in London having flown 6,000 miles from Cape Town, South Africa – doctors warned Tambu that she had just months to live.

Remarkably, Tambu’s story has a happy ending.

She was cured after surgeon Professor Iain Hutchison performed a complex operation which lasted over 35 hours.

He led a team responsible for removing 2kg of tumour, before using Tambu’s back muscle and rib to rebuild her face.

A second operation was needed to get rid of dying tissue, but she’s now on the road to recovery, and her remarkable story is set to be the subject of a Channel 5 documentary.

Tambu Arrival in London for her surgery

Speaking after the failure of the first operation, Professor Hutchison said: ‘Her life is still hanging by a thread

For me it’s a personal disaster, failure doesn’t happen often.

‘When it happens you have to confront it and try to find ways around the problem. If you don’t achieve a seal between the brain and the face and mouth then all bacteria will get into the brain, causing meningitis and encephalitis and death.’

Pretty Tambu after her surgery

Tambu was finally discharged from hospital after a nine-week stay in hospital, and said she was slowly ‘getting better’.

‘I can swallow, eat foods, but it is still a bit sore.

And I can speak to my husband and daughter for the first time in months.

‘I miss them a lot.’

Tambu is now expected to make a full recovery – and can relish the prospect of watching her daughter Pearl grow up, alongside her husband.