November 29, 2006: Girl's face disfigured by 16 pound tumor
 

http://cellar.org/2006/marliecasseus1.jpg

Marlie Casseus was living a normal life in Haiti at age 3:

http://cellar.org/2006/marliecasseus0.jpg

And then something went wrong. A tumor started growing on the inside of her face, and by age 14 she looked like the above.

This Chicago Trib story explains:
One can only imagine what it was like for a teenager.

The International Kids Fund found her and brought her to Miami, where she is undergoing a series of surgeries to correct the situation. It takes a long time to go from a face full of 16-pound tumor, to a more normal look. But she's getting there.

http://cellar.org/2006/marliecasseus2.jpg

http://cellar.org/2006/marliecasseus4.jpg

After the fourth surgery.

http://cellar.org/2006/marliecasseus3.jpg

Her mom is overjoyed. The operation not only makes her look better, but has saved her life. At her worst moments, she could barely eat or breathe, and Haitian docs didn't exactly understand the situation and had left her for dead. At lot of Haitians thought it was something satanic.

Here is her page at the International Kids Fund, and if you are sufficiently moved by the story, there is a donate link.

I think I would have gotten that looked at when it got to about 5 lbs. But that's just me.

that first picture is maybe the craziest thing i have ever seen...

Wow, just when we think we've made progress in educating the world, something like this comes up.

It isn't like Haiti is so far removed from modern society or anything.

I am always amazed at how deeply the superstitions still rule.

Amazing, though, that this poor girl can even be saved. I wonder what that has done to her spinal development, having all that extra weight in her head. I wonder if she misses that tumor, after all, it has been with her for a very long time.

From here

You probably would have had the resources to have it checked at 5 pounds, she did not

So they couldn't do anything? They just gave up after 5lbs? They couldn't take a polaroid or send a verbal description to the red cross? Thank God someone fixed this instead of shaking chicken bones at it.

Jeez, how tragic. I do hope they can restore her face without her looking too horribly scarred.

Sounds like the "doctors" in Haiti didn't even consider giving her a tracheotomy to help with breathing. I know Haiti is backwards, but you'd think they could have at least done that.

Poor thing.

Actually, it is. Haiti is a third world country just off our shores. It has suffered several unstable predatory dictatorships that benefitted the Duvalliers and made a poor people poorer. They don't have a tourism industry, which could help improve conditions from the influx of nice juicy dollars and euros, but the place is so dangerous that nobody wants to go there.

I haven't been myself, but I have a friend who makes a point of going every couple of years.

It's the only country I know of that still practices voodoo.

I used to work with a guy from Haiti (he was the maintenance guy for a McDonald's). He was very excitable, both in good and bad senses.

Wow that poor little girl, I wouldn't wish anything like that even on my worst enemy. I hope her spirits are as golden as can be. Dear little girl.:ipray:

Lashing out Blindly
 

Educating the world? What the hell are you talking about? I have a good friend here at the law school I am attending. He WAS attending a Christian law school which shall remain nameless but is in California. CALI-FRIGGIN-FORNIA! He had a mild stroke which caused some temporary paralysis in the side of his face (no, NOT Bell's Palsy, a real stroke). The other students, LAW STUDENTS, were convinced that he had the DEVIL inside him, stopped going to the same classes he was attending, and demanded that the administration expel him. The school caved in to the students' wishes, my friend was expelled, and had to go to the CA Supreme Court to get his loans wiped.

I don't think we have done all that wonderful a job edumacating the idiots in OUR country. The sooner people grow up mentally and stop blaming diseases on such worthy causes as "We forgot to sacrifice a goat last night" or "The fields need some blood soon" the better. READ THE LOTTERY!!

Sorry. I hate superstitious assholes with nothing better to do than make other peoples' lives miserable because of their own ignorance.

Okay, stepping OFF the soapbox and getting back to the exciting topic of whether the conduct of an offeree will constitute assent under the circumstances if they are directed towards fulfilling the conractual obligation.

Heh. We have recently acquired American-style evangelist groups in the UK. That isn't meant to be anti-American, simply an observation of their origin, as opposed to the more usual English style of Christianity. A friend of mine got very involved with one of these groups and I ended up going along as a witness to her baptism (see.....even a militant atheist makes exceptions for a friend) whilst there I was perturbed to see a group of them 'cure' someone's asthma by 'drawing out the devil' from within them.....through their mouth, in a vapour that all the Christians present claimed they could see. The devil. The devil as a cause of asthma.

Well I live in NYC and there are lots of people who practice that religion or Santeria or African or Brazilian forms of it. Vodoun exists all over.

And they don't just shake chicken bones at tumors. But show me a religion that practices surgery on osteosarcomas.

True.

I was thinking more in terms of exposure to or knowledge of more developed countries rather than being in the outback or out-yonder somewhere.

She finally got the surgery by her father seeing something on TV. What surprises me is that no even thought of this before!

The faith that people have in the good God and evil Devil is not something I would dare mock. We already know we can make ourselves believe anything we want to believe, even to the point of making ourselves extremely ill or healing ourselves. Beyond that, well, I've seen enough to believe that there is more out there than we can sense -- good and evil.

Still, what must it do to this girl's mind to have lived like this for most of her life? I just can't imagine the trauma of having her life change so radically. The tumor grew on her as the rest of her body grew, so she probably just adapted, but now she is completely different. She has so much to relearn . . .

It hurts just to look at her . . .

I said "yes" but hubby corrected me and said I was thinking of statutory law while you are referring to common law.

BTW, he WAS a lawyer (8th year), is now a headhunter, and he's come to the conclusion that every person that enters law school should have their head examined!!! :worried:

Those people are extremely dangerous, because the methodology of whipping the crowd into a collective frenzy, is fun for the crowd. The "keep the party going", "don't be a wet blanket", peer pressure will cause people to accept any ideas proffered without analyzing them.
Everyone has seen newsreels of this principle in action..... Hitler, Castro, Ayatollah Khomeini, David Duke, etc.:(

I knew a very charming Christian lady who believed the devil had caused a fire in her house, but that God had turned the siutation around for her (neighbour had the day off and noticed the smoke very quickly, house was due redecoration anyway and the work was all covered by the insurance etc)

Although it didn't conform to my view of the world, I was glad she had those thoughts to comfort her. The only thing that disturbed me slightly was that she felt she had been tested - that the positive outcome was proof of her faith. Which made me wonder whether she thought people who owned houses that burned to the ground were sinners. I didn't dare ask her.

wow

My cat has a tumor about the size of my fist potruding out of his side. I will probably have him put down today. I am sorry for the girl. I think if they can save a face they can save my cat?:sniff:


That picture is incredibly amazing.

As much as I despise cats I am truly sorry for you skysidhe.:sniff:

Ditto. :sniff:

Oh yes it is, they are VERY far removed from what we take for granted. They've got it all over the worst rumor you ever heard about Arkansas. If you watch Univision's news programs, you will soon come to the conclusion that the most grotesque deformities and birth defects are right at home in Santo Domingo, which shares the island with Haiti. I can't imagine if it is the filth or whether inbreeding has caused it, but it seems there are villages full of people like these. The most tragic thing about it is the rate at which they continue to breed, sometimes creating entire families of monsters, and even the most hideously deformed girl always ends up pregnant, usually due to rape. You have to wonder why they allow people to photograph them, I guess the money and attention they get from the yellow press reporters is practically the only income they have :(

So, in other words, this was so normal to them they didn't do anything about it???

Now THAT is scary. :worried:

some things you laugh about
this isnt one of them!
your an asshole lumberjim

poor girl with tumor on face
 

dont make fun of her man
thats just low and tight
get a life

yeah....what a dick!

you tell him rox!

him rox him grammar
but him low and tight (whatever the fuck that means)

She has a man? That's nice, and we shouldn't make fun of him.


What follows is appallingly bad ... be warned ...

In the first picture I though she looked like a hippopotamus.

Oh gawd I'm sorry. I hope she is doing well.

Oh yea. We're both goin' to hell. I will admit :blush: to a chuckle at the Thornberry pic.

LJ, congrats on the landmark.

dude your just as big a fag as lumberjim.!!!

I_rox, you may reasonably accuse me of being an insensitive bastard, but your use of "fag" as a put-down is itself offensive to homosexuals.

There is at least one out and proud homosexual and one bisexual regularly on this forum. Presumably they saw your comment.
My unkind comment, however, will almost certainly never be seen by the unfortunate girl.

Glass houses, my friend. I appreciate your compassion, but you might want to improve your aim.

Or better yet, use a different weapon.

i am very sorry if i affended anybody. But your not a very nice person if your gonna laugh bout things that arent even funny!!

This reminds me of this old story that happened in civilised countries and all...

Some people decide to ruin their lives just because crazy beliefs. *shrug*

Oh yeah, first post on this place. It seemed interesting and something that i have been looking for, for a while, since my old online home kinda died.
And um, yes, i am kinda anti-religious, if you'll excuse me.

>waves chikin bones at Hunchback < Welcome ! :)

:lol: Nirvana Think you should change your user title to "waves chicken bones at hunchbacks".

I was told, when I was offended, that I should grow a thicker skin, if I was gonna hangout in the Cellar.

I'm not saying anything...I'm just saying. If I like to eat onions, and I broadcast that fact, I don't think I'm allowed to be too upset if I get called Onion-breath. I have onion-breath, after all.

Plus, I ain't ever heard of a Cellarite being offended and NOT letting us all know about it.:)

(I didn't mean to, but I just know that will stir up some shit.)

You onion breath people are ALL alike. :exasperated:


;)

So. From this exchange, I am to assume that if you call people names, your sexual orientation will change.

OMG, I'm a fag.

:mock:<---Onion Eater.

What IS the state of the Onion, anyway?

The Onion has a Bunion... or is that a shoe bomb.............

:eek:No wonder you've got onion breath!

:D