God is Moving: Example of God's mercy when a series of events lead to the removal of a 5-pound tumor from a 4-year-old girl

'She was a normal child but as she grew, we noticed a lump growing in the middle of her head.'

Four-year-old Renu was born with a tiny tumor that her parents believed to be a boil that would eventually pop and disappear. Unfortunately for Renu, the tumor continued to grow.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Renu lives in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India on a farm with her parents and six siblings.

Unfortunately, the family lives in poverty and when the tumor became painful and continued to grow to a whopping five-and-a-half-pounds, they were unable to seek medical treatment.

"She was a normal child but as she grew, we noticed a lump growing in the middle of her head," her mother Pramila explained.

"At first we thought it was just a boil and would go but it only grew bigger with time. She would cry if I touch [sic] it or lie her down for sleep."

Renu's story reached Akhilesh Yadav, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh State, who intervened on behalf of Renu to ask officials to offer the child a free operation. Yadav took to social media to bring awareness, which led doctors from King George's Medical University to act.

In an amazing act of compassion, doctors removed the rare tumor, known as "giant occipital encephalocele," at the University hospital on December 22 at no charge.

One of the doctors in Renu's case was Dr. SN Kureel, who reported the child's tumor was one of only two known cases in the world. It had been growing in the portion of her brain that controls sight and was thankfully benign, but its presence still posed a threat.

"If it was not operated [on] quickly, the tumor would have grown further and eventually ruptured. If that had happened, she would have lost her life," Dr. Kureel explained.

Though the tumor was successfully removed, Dr. Kureel admitted: "the main challenge was to take out the tumor without damaging a vital nerve that supplies light to the eyes. If it had got damaged during the course of [the] operation, then the patient would have lost her vision permanently."

The success of the operation is worth celebrating, but Dr. Kureel admitted only time would tell if the tumor's presence and removal would have a lasting effect on Renu.

Jhinkant, Rinu's father, believes the surgery came about as a miracle from God.

"I don't know what social media is and how it works," he said, "But one thing I know it [sic] that it helped save my child's life. I don't know the man who put up a plea to help Renu. This act of compassion and benevolence has restored my faith in humanity. God bless them all."

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