(slow music)
(upbeat music)
- Hello, my name is Francoise.
I am originally from Mauritius and now I live in England.
My occupation, I'm a nursery manager.
I remember 1992, I think, '93 I felt a lump
so I went to the GP and basically said it was nothing.
I would be fine because I had mumps before
so it's probably just a left over of that.
So I said, okay, but then it went on for months
and it was still there.
So I went and they said it was a tumor
and for it to be removed it's going to be
affecting my facial nerve, that's the first thing they said,
and you'll be probably paralyzed.
Just going to get bigger and it's your fault.
I came out of there crying.
- My name is Ryan Osborne.
I trained as a head and neck surgeon
in south central Los Angeles
managing the most complex cancer
and trauma patients in the country.
I've operated across the globe
in first and third world countries.
My experiences have taught me the value
of flexible, and innovative thinking.
But I realized that our healthcare system
doesn't always allow for that.
So I started Osborne Head and Neck Institute.
I made it my mission to find the best,
most creative surgeons around
and I gave them the space to excel.
Together we create a new standard in medicine.
These are our stories.
(slow music)
When we see people with something that catches our eye,
some sort of unusual disease or a large tumor,
or just some obvious medical problem
most of us shy away from that person.
And if we're honest, if we're truly honest with ourselves,
we probably pass judgment.
We assume that they let this problem get that bad
and that somehow they're actually to blame for it.
Without knowing anything else about that person's story
we somehow feel like we know enough.
But part of this is our own fear.
We don't wanna think that something like that
could actually happen to us too.
We feel much better thinking, well if that were me
I would've taken care of this much sooner.
I wouldn't have that outcome.
This wouldn't be my story.
But Francoise's story, it should give us all pause.
She saw a bump and got it checked out.
She was told to do nothing, it was no big deal.
And then that bump grew.
And when she went back to the doctor
she was told she should've done something sooner
and that she couldn't avoid risking facial paralysis.
Talk about being in between a rock and a hard place.
I mean, she just followed the physician's orders.
This story is a lot more common than it should be,
but it should remind us to look at people like Francoise
with empathy, not judgment.
Illness and bad medical advice happen to good people
in places with good access to healthcare.
(laughing)
It's so nice to get to meet you.
- Hi, I'm Aurelise.
- You started when I stared,
but the two weeks preceding--
- Growing up with my mum and she had the tumor
I kinda didn't ask what it was,
I kind of, it just was there.
She did tell me what it was and I kind of just accepted it
'cause I didn't know her without it
so for me it was just normal.
- I didn't really bother me.
I knew it was there.
It's not there to you, it doesn't really mean anything
'cause like as a person she's like more than like just that.
It doesn't hold her back.
- It hurts me more when I see other people,
when we walk down the road and I see
other people lookin' at her.
- I'm always walkin', I don't walk with my head up.
I'm talking to you now with my head up high,
but usually when I'm walking down the road
I'm always looking down.
- And I want to explain a thing to them about
how it is to have that.
- Funny enough the children just look at it,
oh, Francoise, it looks sore.
Is it sore?
Will get better?
And that's it.
And the parents, because they know me, they don't see.
But I've had instances where--
- They normally give her a dirty look.
or a scared look, or a "don't come near me" look.
- I was sitting next to a lady
and she just took one look at this,
it was actually smaller than this, she talk like said,
"What's that, is that contagious," and she moved away.
So that hurt.
- So that really upsets me and makes me wanna,
makes me wanna fight.
I don't wanna, but I get pretty touchy about that.
- Other thing is I'm always got my hand covering it, always.
When I'm outside, 'cause the wind blows,
I'm always there, like this.
- She's really strong.
She is, sorry.
She's really strong as a person.
That's what I'd say if you didn't know my mum.
She's kind of the glue that holds us together.
She is very caring and she kind of
puts other people before herself.
And I think with this surgery happening
finally she's putting herself first and taking care of her
which is a very important thing to do sometimes.
You need to put yourself first.
- I'm traveling to Serbia to have the surgery,
going to Belgrade.
So I'm having the surgery on the eighth, eighth of November.
Looking forward to it.
- I'm scared for her.
- There are all these things,
the nerves being damaged and everything,
but I am aware of it.
I trust in God and I trust in Dr. Osborne and Dr. Hamilton.
- I think it's gonna be scary because like
she's always been there.
(slow music)
(crying)
- I'll be worried, et cetera, and I'll be praying
that she gets through it, et cetera,
and happy when she comes out of it
and see where we go from there.
- Mum's always been there, so we're a really close family
and I think she's very sensitive.
And she hides it to the best of her ability, but--
- When she comes back what will she be like?
Will she be like the woman I remembered 20, 30 years ago?
- I suppose that I am very aware of it
so I don't even remember the old Francoise,
to tell you the truth, 'cause I have it for nearly 25 years.
- It's gonna be scary but at the same time
I think it's gonna be like better.
- I think that surgery will change our life for the better.
- Hopefully the old Francoise will be back.
More positive.
- She was happy, and content, and still fiery,
she's got this fire.
(laughing)
And basically, it's wonderful.
- Meeting her family, her husband, her daughters
and seeing that she was like this matriarch of this family,
that she was this rock and that the rock was crumbling
and we had an opportunity to sure it back up,
I knew that we were gonna do her case.
There was no two ways about that.
(slow music)
- [Woman] Good luck.
- Thank you.
I'm excited.
It's happening.
Waited a long time.
(slow music)
(dramatic music)
- When the tumor came out there was
a large dent that had to be filled in,
and we rarely do this but in Francoise's case
we had to borrow some fat from her abdomen,
which she was happy to part with,
and we used that fat to fill in the defect
in her parotid gland.
After reconstructing that we tightened the muscles
and the skin over that reconstructed parotid gland,
and we were able to get an outcome where
if you look at her today, you could never tell
that she had surgery in the first place.
She's perfectly matched from side to side
and she's going to be able to put this behind her.
When she looks in the mirror she's not gonna have
any memory that this surgery took place at all.
- Francoise's surgery went really well.
Operating in Serbia felt no different
than operating in the United States.
It actually probably felt better.
Things were seamless.
It was just like being back at home but better
because the bread is better in Europe.
(laughing)
But in all seriousness, she did great, no issues whatsoever.
I'm just so excited to see how she's gonna
reenter into her family and her life.
I mean she's a lovely person no matter what,
but I think when she sees herself
and sees that her face is back
we're gonna see the butterfly.
We're gonna see the butterfly.
(slow music)
(upbeat music)
- I always love being able to see these patients afterwards,
and touch base, and see how they're doing,
and see how we've touched their lives and changed it.
And it's, it's special.
- Just to see like how happy she was,
how happy her family was, and how grateful,
it's really one of those things
that I'm gonna remember for the rest of my life.
- Mum's doing really well.
You can tell that she's happier.
- It's good to see my wife being happy, being herself.
And we're gonna celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.
- Seeing Mum without the tumor
the first time was really good.
- [Daughter] It was weird like to see her
come through the door and be bandaged up.
- I had this like moment of like elation.
I was like so happy for her.
- When she took it off and there was nothing there
you could see how happy she was to like have it like gone.
- I can do things without thinking.
Before that I had to think.
Usually if I see children or people coming towards me
I automatically look down and cover my face,
but it felt so relieved to be able to just
walk around and just enjoy with my head up high.
It was as if I'd gone back to my 30s.
That's the Francoise I saw.
That's how long it's been there, over 20 years,
so it was, oh yay, you're back.
(laughing)
So that was what it was like.
- I'd just like to say a big, massive thank you
to Dr. O, Dr. Hamilton, and everybody on the team.
- They're like a family to me now, everybody.
- I'm really happy that she met them and I met them.
- Thank you.
There is not much more I can say other than that
and you've done a brilliant job,
a brilliant, brilliant job to help her.
- Giving Mum her life back.
- I'd like to thank them from the bottom of my heart.
They've changed my life, the whole team.
Very, very blessed to have met you all.
- Just this year she looked like a new person,
and then to see her there with her family it's like,
it helps you remember like this is why we do what we do,
this is why we love what we do.
You get to see what a person is going through
and to be able to help them get through
this major thing in their lives.
- We know we can do the surgeries successfully,
we know the patients are gonna recover well,
but we really wanna see how has this helped your life.
And that's the most rewarding part for us
and we love when we get an opportunity
to kind of meet with patients again
and see how impactful the surgery's been
for them and their family.
- I'm really glad that surgery went well
'cause I definitely did not wanna have
to deal with her husband.
He's a big guy and he might've really put a hurtin' on me.
Nah, he is a big teddy bear.
The truth is, I wanted to give him his wife back.
I really did.
All I could think about during the surgery was
this man has been protecting her and guarding her
from any harm, from people looking at her.
What would that be if I could just
give him back his old Francoise?
And we did.
(slow music)
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