Cuban teenager Emanuel Zayas has died days after doctors removed a 10-pound tumor from his face.
The Miami Herald reported 14-year-old Zayas’ condition went downhill after the surgery at the Holtz Children’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He died Friday from lung and kidney complications.
Dr. Robert Marx, head of the maxillofacial surgery at the University of Miami Health System, said the Zayas family donated the boy’s remains to science with the goal of learning more about Polyostotic fibrous dysplasia.
The teen’s tumor was benign, but it pressed on his trachea and threatened to suffocate him. The family came to Miami for medical care that wasn’t available in Cuba.
His parents, Noel Zayas and Melvis Vizcainos, are pastors of an evangelical church in Santa Clara.
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