A 4-year-old girl from Ghana has arrived in the U.S. in hopes of receiving life-saving surgery. An Atlanta doctor said he met the child in the West African nation and was compelled to help her. The child was in Metro Atlanta Friday and was scheduled to have surgery at a Baltimore Hospital.
Lovelace Morganu was left badly disfigured by a huge tumor growing around her brain and in her jaw.
An Atlanta doctor couldn't get the little girl out of his mind.
Morganu was born healthy and later developed a bump on her jaw.
Doctors say she has a paraganglioma tumor that is now growing on both her jaw and her head.
Atlanta neurosurgeon Dr. Paul King met Morganu on a medical mission in Ghana two months ago.
"She had such a disfiguring problem. It appeared to be a benign type of tumor," said Dr. King. "She was just a sweet person. It didn't seem as though anything was wrong. We just couldn't leave her behind."
Dr. King was instrumental in bringing Morganu and her father to America.
Dr. King also found several doctors at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore who will operate on Lovelace free of charge.
Dr. King said that without the surgery is unlikely that Morganu will survive.
Morganu's father, Michael said it's his little girl who encourages him and his wife, when they start worrying.
"She has a kind of hope, faith. She [tells] us, we shouldn't worry about anything. God will do it for her. Sometimes she sings songs," said Michael Morganu.
Dr. King said the tumor did not appear to be cancerous and he is hopeful the doctors at John Hopkins will begin the first of what could be a series of seven or eight surgeries next Monday.
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