A 2-year-old girl is being slowly suffocated by her massive tongue and faces a life and death battle over Christmas. Zhyrille Cruz, beli...
A 2-year-old girl is being slowly suffocated by her massive tongue and faces a life and death battle over Christmas.
Zhyrille Cruz, believed to be from the Philippines, suffers from a rare tumour and is likely to die if she does not undergo surgery to treat her condition. Now 2, Zhyrille was born with a noticeably swollen mouth. Shortly after, she was diagnosed with lymphangioma- an uncommon disease which causes benign growths in the lymph vessels.
It has been revealed that the condition could be treated relatively easily with an operation in Britain but her parents can't afford it. And without surgery, it is likely that Zhyrille will become one of the rare cases where lymphangioma ends up being fatal.
Fatalities from lymphangioma - which is not cancerous - are virtually unheard of in developed countries, where medics can treat the condition early with a simple operation. However, in undeveloped countries, the relatively high cost of doctors and surgery means some patients can go their entire lifetime without treatment before the condition eventually kills them. Zhyrille and her family now face an agonising wait over the Christmas period for their fate to be decided.
Mum Mary said: "Zhyrille is the light in our hearts. We don't know what the future holds, but we will make this the best Christmas for her. Zhyrille is the best gift we could have. Her laughter makes everyone smile. I pray every day she will grow up to be a bright and beautiful young girl. I wish for nothing but to see a smile on her lovely face every single second. I want to see her grow up and achieve her goals. That is our dream."
Zhyrille's parents, who are very poor, claim doctors initially told them their daughter's condition would not develop into anything dangerous. However, it worsened and the child's tongue grew larger by the day, making breathing a struggle.
At this point, the toddler's mum Mary Cruz, 22, took her to the local government 'sweepstakes office', the equivalent of National Lottery funding in the UK. There, the little girl, who is believed to be from the Philippines, received funding for doctors to fit a tube into her neck for her to breathe. Zhyrille is now receiving free oral chemotherapy medicine at home in a desperate bid to reduce the size of her benign tumour. If the tumour is reduced, doctors will put her forward for surgery which her mum and dad, Gerry Cruz, 28, will have to try to fund themselves.
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