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Woman with thousands of tumours all over her body barely able to walk-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro
Viewers are heartbroken.
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A woman with thousands of tumours all over her body has revealed the debilitating impact her rare condition has had on her life.
Charmaine has growths all over her body, and has been diagnosed with NF-1 neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition that causes tumours to grow along nerves.
She is covered in them all over her body, including her face, arms, and legs, even holding her back from walking for more than a few minutes.
In a new episode of TLC programme Take My Tumour, Charmaine is hoping to gain some help from experts to ease her condition.
An upcoming preview for the series shows the 43-year-old from Trinidad explain that her condition developed when she was just 13 years old, and was passed on to her from her mother.
‘But for her, it is not as bad as mine,’ Charmaine explains.
She goes on: ‘When I started to have these tumours, it wasn’t as big as they are now. I had a couple on my face, it was never all these thousands I have now.’
Charmaine has growths all over her body (Picture: TLC)
The tumours have grown across her limbs and face (Picture: TLC)
With some of the bumps on her body, Charmaine is unable to wear tight clothes, especially because of a particularly large growth on her leg.
‘I don’t want to wear anything to hurt the bump, to cause it to bleed,’ she says.
She goes on: ‘I got it from an early stage when I started secondary school. The doctors here in Trinidad didn’t know much about neurofibromatosis, they couldn’t help.
Charmaine has been diagnosed with a rare genetic condition (Picture: TLC)
She can’t wear certain clothes for fear they will hurt the bumps (Picture: TLC)
‘As the years go by, it just got worse.
‘But, I never believed it would have come out so much on my face.’
What is NF-1 neurofibromatosis?
According to the NHS, NF1 is a condition people are born with, but symptoms can develop gradually over many years.
The tumours are usually non-cancerous and benign, but can cause symptoms including neurofibromas, birthmarks, freckles in unusual places, or problems with bones, eyes and the nervous system.
NF1 is caused by a faulty gene, and there’s a 1 in 2 chance a child will develop NF1 if either the mother or father has it.
There’s currently no cure for the condition, but treatment can involve surgery, medicine to control secondary conditions, physiotherapy and pain management.
Around 1 in 3,000 people have the condition, but Charmaine’s case is extreme.
She shows the swelling on one of her legs because of the tumours, leaving her unable to walk.
‘I really can’t walk on my own for too long. If I walk for five minutes I will have to stop and rest,’ she says.
Charmaine adds that the weight on one side of her body has thrown her balance off, and the slightest thing can make her trip over and fall.
Charmaine’s growths began when she was 13 (Picture: TLC)
She now has difficulty walking and balancing (Picture: TLC)
Viewers have been left heartbroken hearing Charmaine’s story, with @zacardi writing: ‘I cried watching this I just can’t imagine what this lady is passing through it’s really sad, I pray she receives unimaginable miracle.’
‘Poor baby… ugh my heart just breaks. We take so much for granted… I hope someone can help her,’ @lauren_ccash wrote.
@Pebbs.rn added: ‘This is horrible. Poor woman shouldn’t have to live like that.’
Take My Tumour airs Wednesdays on TLC in America.
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