14 months old Kangkang is already suffering from an extremely rare form of facial deformity called transverse facial cleft.
Due to this condition, Kangkang looks like he has a second face, which others dub as his “mask face”.
Doctors are not really sure what causes this disorder, but they’re guessing it’s because of some medicine the mother ingested during her pregnancy.
Yi Xilian, the mother of KangKang, said that all the ultrasounds and pre-birth tests showed nothing unusual.
After she gave birth to her child, Yi’s family didn’t want her to see the baby, but she begged her husband to take a glimpse of her newborn. Yi said, “Before they passed me the baby, they told me, ‘Don’t be sad, don’t be sad,’ but when I saw my son, I collapsed.”
There is an operation that can restructure KangKang’s face, but the doctors cautioned Yi and her family that it might not produce the desired results.
Apart from the risky operation, the cost of the surgery is $45,518 to $60,691 USD (300,000 to 400,000 Chinese yuan), something they can’t afford.
Fortunately, a hospital in Shanghai offered to do the surgery for free. Kangkang has to undergo two surgeries. The first surgery is to stitch the clefts of the extra face as well as its facial muscles, and the second one is to restructure his facial bones.
opera.com
