A team of Sydney specialists has performed a series of “complex and mammoth” surgeries to remove a mass of tumours from the face of a young Indonesian woman — with astonishing results. Natalia Aperasay, 26, was born with neurofibromatosis — a genetic disorder which causes benign tumours to form in the skin, brain, spinal cord and other parts of the body. In Ms Aperasay’s case, the condition was so severe it resulted in the malformation of the entire right side of her face, making eating, drinking and talking a daily struggle. The brave young woman, from West Papua, also had to cope with the reactions of others, saying she endured “a lot of shame growing up” and felt compelled to hide her face from the world. That changed when a US medical team came across Ms Aperasay in her home province of Jayapura and passed on her story to […]