It's a burden 12-year-old Linh Da Vo has lived with most of her life - a tumour of the veins growing on her face.
As a baby, Linh Da has a tiny mark on her cheek, which her parents thought was a birthmark. When she was just four months old, the mark began to grow and has continued for her whole life.
Unable to access the necessary medical care in her rural home in southern Vietnam, the tumour spread into her jaw, gum, nose and eyes.
Her mother, Hahn Vo, said it can be very painful for her daughter.
"I feel sad when she's sometimes teased by other kids at school because of her condition," she said.
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But that will now change, thanks to Foundation of Hope charity founder, Kim Thein Truong.
Together with Rotary Medical Aid for Children and Monash Health, she’s made the life-changing surgery possible.
Dr James Leong is the plastic surgeon leading the 26-person team that will operate on Linh Da, pro bono.
He says Linh Da's is the most complex he has ever seen and the surgery could take up 10 hours.
"There's vein in the muscle, in the skin, in the mucosa, sometimes even into the bone, so it's going to be very tricky dissecting out this tumour because it's everywhere," he said.
"It's all made of blood vessels, so we're really concerned about blood loss."
Linh Da isn't nervous, rather she's hopeful for the future.
"I think I will look normal, like other people and have no more pain."
