A man was left with a huge dent in his forehead after multiple tumours meant surgeons had to remove his forehead.
Ido Simyoni, from New York, had to undergo the life-saving treatment after tumors growing in his head caused his face to become “very, very swollen.”
The 41-year-old has been living with fibrous dysplasia, a condition which sees scar-like tissue form instead of normal bone, causing him to develop benign tumors, which affect his skull.
Ido first noticed something was wrong aged 15 years old when his left eye looked smaller. A doctor sent him for an X-ray, which led to him getting a diagnosis.
He said: “I’m telling my mom, ‘Everyone is saying that my left eye is becoming smaller, and I don’t know what they’re saying.’
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“And literally, as I’m saying it, I’m touching above my left eye and below it and I feel a bump,” he added. “I touched this on the other eye…I don’t feel that bump.”
According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the condition begins when some babies develop in the womb.
As children grow, they can come to develop abnormal tissues in their bones and across multiple places or just one.
In Ido’s case, it was his skull that was affected. Over the years, tumors have affected his forehead, eye socket, and the bone below his brain.
He had to have surgery at 17, to take out a tumor that was growing into the protective covering of the brain.
“It didn’t enter the brain, but it was outside,” he said. “They removed that tumor then, and then they told me, ‘You’re done. That’s it.'”
Doctors had replaced the bone after it was filled with tumors, but the replacement bone began shrinking, which caused dents in his forehead and increased the risk of infections reaching his brain.
Ido lived with the condition until one morning last year when he woke up “very, very swollen.”
Speaking to TODAY.com he said the sight “indicated to me that something is wrong.”
He consulted a new neurologist and underwent two further surgeries.
“I had to tell them, ‘I feel something inside. I know it’s back,'” he recalled. “When they opened me, they saw the tumor.”
The tumour grew and doctors had to stitch it shut before using bone taken from the top his skill to replace his forehead.
Ido nearly died when too much fluid protecting the brain from infection leaked. “I remember saying goodbye to my mom and my sister,” he said. “Thankfully, the doctors brought me back.”
Thankfully, he is now back on the mend, so much so that he is aiming to take on the colossal challenge of running all six World Major Marathons in 2024.
“It was a very, very tough year to go through, and now I’m getting to the other side of it,” he says. “I set myself this very ambitious goal…I believe in myself. I hope that my body (will) not betray me.”
