Lewis Deakin, an 11-year-old boy, becomes the youngest in the United Kingdom to undergo a mastectomy or breast removal procedure.
Lewis had his right pectoral muscle removed as a treatment for arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a rare disorder that results in benign tumor growth in his chest.
The Manchester-based boy is also expected to go through reconstructive surgery as his body further develops in the future.
Only Child Mastectomy Patient In The UK
Before the surgery, Lewis had a “really big lump” on his chest. “[I]t even stretched out his clothes. One teacher thought he had a beanbag up his top,” his mother, Victoria, recalled.
Victoria said that Lewis, the only child so far in the country to undergo mastectomy, will also have chest reconstruction in the future as he gets bigger.
“He was a bit daunted by it all at first and he wouldn’t show anyone the scar,” she shared. But now, Lewis tells other kids at school that the massive surgical scar on his chest was from a shark bite, “a real pulling machine” according to him.
Medical And Family Struggles
When the benign tumors started to appear three years ago, the child and his family began consulting specialists at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. He already went through 15 procedures in a two-year period and still needs to see the doctors regularly.
Lewis, along with his mother and his father, Wayne would leave their Wythenshawe home at 5 a.m. to reach the hospital on time. “I recently had a baby and I travelled over there with him all the way through my last pregnancy,” Victoria said. She also had to leave two other sons and a daughter behind to travel with Lewis.
Lewis had to be hospitalized for five days after his April 2014 surgery, but managed to recuperate quickly and use his arm normally again after a month. A growth in the middle of the chest, however, requires him to be tested later this month.
The Truth About AVM
Victoria lamented the fact that few people knew about AVM. “The only charity I have come across is AVM Survivors. There’s no awareness or advice for people living with it except on Facebook,” she said.
AVM is a kind of vascular defects or that affecting the arteries, veins, and capillaries. This rare disease can strike in any part of the body but commonly occurs in the brain or spinal cord, and can lead to headaches and seizures.
While the cause is largely unknown, AVMs seem to develop during pregnancy or soon after birth. They are diagnosed through imaging tests.
Medicines can assist in managing AVM symptoms, but surgery or radiation therapy could be explored as treatment options.
Hiroshi Nishikawa, the surgeon who led Lewis’s surgeries, called the young patient “extremely brave” to have undergone such procedures. There is, though, still a long way to go for Lewis to fully recover.
“[W]e will continue to monitor him over the next few years,” said the surgeon.
Photo: Ken Bosma | Flickr
