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FREAKS
:
The
Elephant Boy |
Date
Added
MAY 2003 |
A smash hit film about the Elephant Man
threw fresh misery into the life of little Tony Albarran. It
gave mocking playmates, who already called him monster, a cruel new
name to taunt him with: The Elephant Boy.
For Tony, aged four, one glance in the mirror confirmed his
resemblance to the face in the movie; a tragic twist of fate he
appeared to be a child-parody of the hideously disfigured Victorian
freak. His features were swollen by a rare disease which causes
terrible tumours to erupt all over the body. His forehead, left
eye, chin, nose and mouth and even his gums and tongue were horribly
distorted by the agonizing growths which made it difficult for him to
eat, sleep and, sometimes, breathe.
Heartbreak followed heartbreak as Tony's parents took him to
specialist after specialist in their home city of Chicago. He
did undergo vital surgery to remove the largest lump from his forehead
and correct problems in his left eye. But doctors insisted that
a major operation to cut away one enormous tumour which threatened to
engulf his face would be too dangerous.
Tony's father, Hector Albarran, said; 'He would stand in front of the
mirror tearing at the fleshy lump. We couldn't let him play with
other kids because they tormented him. I knew if we didn't do
something soon, his body and mind would be permanently affected by his
bizarre disease. It was terrible. For us every moment of
little Tony's existence, looking as he did, was sheer agony. I
knew that if we waited much longer he would never have a change to
live a normal life. I felt something needed to be done right
away before the tumour destroyed his face.'
As each day passed, Tony's features grew more distorted, pressed into
wild shapes by the lumps that continued to sprout. At time, he
cried out in pain when the suffocating force of the eruptions were
unbearable. Virtually all his friends deserted him and the
playmates who remained stayed only to tease and taunt. Tony's
parents recall the deep shame he confessed to feeling as his condition
worsened. And still, no doctor would agree to free the little
boy from his torment.
The first ray of hope did arrive, however, in January 1982, when Dr
Kenneth Salyer, a leading plastic surgeon from the Children's Medical
Centre in Dallas, Texas, agreed to examine Tony. And, finally,
to Tony's parent's immense relief, he decided that the Elephant Boy
was a suitable case for treatment. At last their son would have
the chance to live as a normal, healthy child.
In a series of delicate operations, Dr Sayler began to remove layer
after layer of the lumpy tissue which gave Tony's face its elephantine
appearance. In the first week of January alone, little Tony
spent six hours on the operating table. Dr Sayler had consented
to commence surgery even though the boy's parents didn't have enough
money to pay him immediately.
Gradually, Tony's face began to appear smoother, his features more
clearly contoured and defined. Yet there was still so much
growth that initially, Dr Sayler was only able to remove part of it.
As the operations continued, he developed a 'whittling-away' process,
at first working on the outside of Tony's face and then cutting away
the ugly growths which had sprouted inside his mouth, pulling even his
tongue and gums out of shape and at times making it virtually
impossible to eat properly.
By the end of February, despite a slightly puffy, swollen look, Tony's
face was near-normal. The heartbreak, it seemed was over - apart
from one final complication. According to Dr Sayler, the tumours
will begin to re-grow on Tony's face and he will have to undergo
future operations to cut them away before they have a chance to
mushroom again.
Meanwhile, though, little Tony's ecstasy is reflected not only in the
mirror into which he now looks with pride, but also in the words of
his father, who says: 'His life as the Elephant Boy is over. I
know he'll be all right now, even though he'll need to have other
operations. He's not shy any more and even keeps pestering us to
let him go outside and play with the other kids. Every time I
look at him I can't believe our good fortune. My dear little
Tony isn't a freak any more - and at last he'll have a chance to lead
a normal life.'
After a short life filled will pain and shame, the torment of a film
which helped brand him the Elephant Boy and a desperate search for a
doctor who would end his misery, little Tony himself says, with the
simple innocence of a child: 'I feel better now. My face doesn't
hurt at night and I don't look so funny.' |
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