54-year wait for rest of face nearly over for Invercargill woman

Bone will be taken from Christine Brown's skull and leg to help rebuild the right side of her face. Photo / Christine Brown

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She's had her hair pulled, been spat at, pushed over, even locked in a cupboard.

All because Christine Brown looked different to everybody else.

But somehow the 54-year-old grandmother has managed to have a positive outlook on life and in recent years has done public speaking about the effects of being bullied.

Brown was born with Neurofibromatosis, a condition where tumours grow on nerves all around the body, and there's no cure.

She has "thousands and thousands" of lumps and bumps, but the main one people see is on her face.

It meant a horrific childhood, she said.

Former Gore woman Christine Brown was bullied all her life after being born with Neurofibromatosis, which causes tumours to develop on nerves in her body, including her face. Photo/Anita Hayman

"School? I didn't like school. I liked being in class, but I didn't like being out of class. My safe environment was in the classroom [but outside] from then on I was bullied.

"I used to go East Gore School and this girl used to hide behind this big oak tree and used to wait for me and would pinch me and kick me and spit in my face. I've had my hair pulled ... I've been pushed over, locked in cupboards.

"I had old-fashioned bullying. I was physically and verbally attacked."

It got so bad that by the time she was 13, Brown thought about ending her life.

"I thought I was so over this and wanted to die. And then I thought, 'why should I let them win?' I liked life and I liked me, I didn't like what people did to me though."

Her parents knew her struggles, so did her siblings. They were bullied, too.

Like the bullying, the tumours have persistently pestered her.

Christine Brown is raising funds to help support her family as she undergoes surgery in Dunedin Hospital to rebuild her face.

"I have had one turn cancerous, I've had three back ribs removed, I was given 15 months to live ... and I thought 'I don't want to die'. At the time [my son, now 24] was 3 years old.

"But guess what, I've got a 17-year-old daughter now. I try and keep myself positive because I'm not going to let the bullying take me down."

The facial tumour hasn't affected her sight, but she has lost hearing on one side; something she hopes may come back when it's lifted back into place.

Brown, who together with husband, Lee, have three adult children, had her first surgery on her face aged 7. The next will be number 18, but it's the one that she's most looking forward to.

It will be done in Dunedin Hospital by surgeon Dr Matthew Leaper and has three parts to it.

One, will see Leaper take a "zig zag" shard section of bone in her leg from the top of her calf down to her ankle.

A CT scan shows how much of Christine Brown's face is missing, including part of her jaw. Photo / Christine Brown

That will get shaped and be inserted between the top of her lip and up to her skull above her ear.

Another piece of skull bone will be used to create the missing cheek bone, and a tumour will also be removed from her eye.

In the meantime, all she can do is wait as she's been put on the waiting list but when the surgery happens, her family want to be by her side.

That's why the family have set up a givealittle page so that they can stay at campgrounds near Dunedin Hospital.

The money will also go towards living costs, food and travel, as Brown is likely to soon lose her job as co-ordinator at Stroke Club, Invercargill.

But today, she finally had some good news. She was made the South Island Ambassador of the Neurofibromatosis' Lady Bug Foundation.

"To me it's more about, yeah I'm getting this surgery done, but it's getting awareness out there, too."

* To make a donation people can head to Brown's givealittle page here