Rukmini Kallhar

Bhubaneswar, May 9: Looking at Rukmini Kallhar, the happy two-year-old girl sitting cosy on her mother’s lap at JPM Rotary Eye Hospital, it would have been difficult to imagine that her past two years had been in constant discomfort and pain.

Rukmini, who suffers from “spasticity”, is a happy child returning home after a month undergoing surgeries for teratoma — one of the rarest eye diseases in the world.

Born to a family of labourers in Nowrangpur, Rukmini is the second child. Right after her birth, her parents noticed a lump of flesh growing out of her left eye. But the problem wasn’t taken seriously then.

However, the situation soon turned worse as the lump swelled with every passing day. The bubbly baby turned into a restless one crying endlessly through day and night.

All efforts to treat her at the district failed while the retrobulbar mass grew bigger, causing vision problems in the other eye, too.

Around this time members of the local reporters spotted her.

With their help, Rukmini’s parents brought the girl to JPM Rotary Eye Hospital and Research Institute, Cuttack, for treatment.

A series of tests began with paediatricians and ophthalmologists and Rukmini was finally diagnosed with teratoma.

Literally meaning “monstrous tumour” in Greek, in Rukmini’s case the tumour was in her eye. It had pushed out of the eye socket due to its huge size, causing extreme discomfort to the girl.

A team of specialists, including a neurosurgeon, a plastic surgeon, an ophthalmologist, cornea specialist and anaesthesiologist operated on the girl on April 25.

“The surgical procedure used is called exenteration, in which the all orbital contents, including the eyeball and the tissues around the eye, were removed,” explained Navnit Gupta, the paediatric ophthalmologist.

Rukmini’s CT scan showed that her tumour was connected with the brain and was affecting it. Cell growth (nails and hairs) were also present on the tumour.

Specialists now predict that Rukmini’s future would be pain free and she would be able to achieve normal growth.

“She can get back her normal life with the help of physiotherapy,” said a doctor.

After a month of post-medical care, Rukmini and her parents today left the hospital with smile.

“She is not crying or screaming anymore. We are happy to get her back safe and sound,” said Sumitra Kallhar.

Though her dark glasses puzzled Rukmini, her body language revealed that the girl was happy to be back in her mother’s lap.

Only 60 cases of teratoma have been detected world wide till now.