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For girl, shopping is a new pleasure

The growth that once wrecked her face is gone. Now she's talking, dancing and spending.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 21, 2006

SUNRISE - Marlie Casseus said "Thank you" and smiled back at the woman who handed her $10 to buy batteries for her new portable CD player.

With a pink cell phone clipped to her jeans and a shopping cart filling up with DVDs, video games and new clothes Wednesday, the Haitian girl was being a typical teenager.

"She's come a long way. She is happy," her mother, Maleine Antoine, told another Wal-Mart shopper who stopped to congratulate Marlie on her first big shopping trip after doctors removed a 16-pound tumorlike mass from her face and followed up with three reconstructive surgeries.

Just over a year ago, the 14-year-old would not even leave her family's home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and could only face a mirror with despair over her grossly deformed face.

The growth, first noticed at age 8, had choked off her ability to speak, crushed her airways and stretched her features so far apart, only her eyes, nostrils and a single tooth were recognizable. U.S. doctors say she was near death when she arrived in Miami last year.

Now Marlie shows off her dance moves and a new ability to sip water from a cup. She has been in speech therapy since a tracheotomy tube was removed last month. She says "Thank you" in English and converses in Creole with her mother, but only her vowels are clear - without teeth, consonants are difficult.

"For a long time, she's never talked. I'm happy to hear her voice," Antoine said.

A handful of Wal-Mart employees circled Marlie as she browsed through the store with other Christmas shoppers. They helped her find shoes, pick out necklaces and a watch and makeup sets as gifts for her mother and two sisters. The $1,400 shopping spree was primarily funded by a Florida woman who read stories about Marlie's medical saga. Other shoppers and employees handed her cash and small gifts, including a wallet to hold the money.

"She's never seen anything like this in her life," said Ginette Eugene, whose nonprofit Good Samaritan for a Better Life helped bring Marlie to the U.S.

The teenager and her mom will go to Haiti on Saturday. Antoine said her daughter is eager to return to school.

Marlie will come back to Miami in two years for additional surgeries on her nose and jaw and to receive dental implants, said Dr. Jesus Gomez, the University of Miami medical school maxillofacial surgeon who has led Marlie's surgical teams.

Marlie suffers from polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, a rare disease that causes bone to swell and become jellylike. The condition affects her entire skeleton: she is bowlegged and short for her age, and her fingers and feet are swollen and crooked.

The hospital's International Kids Fund, which seeks to provide medical care for needy children from around the world, has raised $350,000 this year for Marlie's medical care. It will continue seeking donations for her future surgeries, officials said.

Fast Facts:

On the Web

International Kids Fund:

www.international kids-fund.org.

[Last modified December 21, 2006, 06:03:04]