© WCVB arpita rani smiles following successful eye surgery
Massachusetts hospitals have long been home to many medical miracles, but Boston doctors and nurses say this latest case really hits the heart.
A girl with a rare eye cancer walked out of Massachusetts General Hospital on Thursday, now cancer-free.
Arpita Rani, an 11-year-old girl from Bangladesh, spent nearly five months in Boston, conquering the rare eye cancer that threatened her sight and her life.
“It’s a beautiful city, the people are very good,” Rani said through an interpreter.
Rani began having eyesight problems in the last two years. When her swollen eye and eyesight began getting worse, her diagnosis did as well.
Doctors discovered she had ACC — adenoid cystic carcinoma, a very rare cancer of the tear duct gland, bone, and nervous system.
Fundraising by the Bangladeshi community helped allow Rani to travel to Boston with her father for months of care.
A team of doctors, nurses and support professionals with the help of the Mass. General Cancer Center and MGH Center for Global Health got to work removing the tumor was right next to Arpita’s right eye.
“If you don’t treat the cancer properly, it’s at a high risk to reoccur,” Dr. Lori Wirth, the medical director of Head and Neck Oncology at Mass. General Hospital said. “If you are too aggressive, you can impair the function of the eye.”
Rani received surgery from a Mass Eye and Ear surgeon, followed by aggressive chemotherapy and proton beam radiation, medical care she could not have received in Bangladesh.
“This tumor is specifically rare, but it’s quite rare in children,” Dr. Michael Yoon, Mass Eye and Ear ophthalmologist said. “Arpita has taught me so much.”
She’s planning to return with her father to Bangladesh next week, cancer-free and with her eye intact.
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READ THE FULL STORY:Mass. hospital treats 11-year-old for rare eye cancer
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