A woman has revealed how her rare skin condition has left her with almost 6,000 tumours all over her body.
Libby Huffer from Fort Wayne in Indiana has suffered from a rare condition called Neurofibromatosis since she was five years old.
The rare skin disease causes non-cancerous lumps and she has already had ten operations.
She lived a normal life until her teens, when hundreds of bumps began rapidly developing all over her skin.
The first outbreak led to her being severely bullied – with people thinking she was contagious and cruelly labelling her ‘Lizard Breath’.
Things took a turn for the worst in 1993, when pregnancy hormones caused her tumours to multiply in the thousands.
Now suffering chronic pain – she has in excess of 5,500 bumps across her entire body.
Despite undergoing surgery to remove the lumps, many have grown back leaving Libby in chronic pain from her forehead to her feet.
Recently she braved showing her skin in public in the hope of trying to attract funding for specialist treatment, which she says is her last resort.
She said: ‘For the majority of my life I’ve covered up in long sleeved tops and trousers, but recently I’ve tried being brave by showing more of my skin.I try not to let it stop me.
‘Someday it would be wonderful not to have to worry about how I look, or what clothes will hide my bumps.’
Libby has started raising money for pioneering electrodessication surgery that will use an electric current to kill the neurofibroma tissue in her body.
The five-hour session costs almost £17,500 and could allow her a pain-free life without the stares and taunts from people for the first time in three decades.
She added: ‘My life would change so much if I had the surgery. I’m not contagious, I’m a human being too, all I want is to be adored and cared for like anyone else.’
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