《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》Palau girl regains eyesight with help from local hospital

Staff writer, with CNA

After two months of treatment, eight-year-old Caylin Max returned to Palau on Wednesday, now able to see her family and her beautiful country in the Western Pacific without magnifying eyeglasses.

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Those glasses were what she needed to see before she came to Taiwan more than two months ago.

She was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma, a type of brain tumor that occurs mostly in children, more than three years ago and had been close to being legally bllind because of a 4cm tumor compressing her optic nerve.

With the help of the Taiwanese embassy in Palau, Max arrived in Taiwan on March 9 to receive treatment at Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital in Taipei.

The hospital paid for the surgery and provided assistance during her two-month stay in the country.

Max underwent surgery on March 11 and began radiotherapy about three weeks later, the hospital said.

The hospital’s surgeons were able to remove most of the tumor and thus alleviate the pressure on Max’s optic nerve, said Tsai Ming-da （蔡明達）, head of the hospital’s neurosurgery department.

The surgical procedure was followed by radiotherapy to stop the growth of the remaining part of the tumor, Tsai said.

The tumor could not be completely removed, because it was right next to the hypothalamus, Tsai said.

At a press conference on Tuesday to announce the girl’s discharge from hospital, Palauan Ambassador to Taiwan Dilmei Louisa Olkeriil fought back tears as she thanked Taiwan and the hospital staff for their assistance.

Accompanied by her mother, Max flew back to Palau with greatly recovered eyesight, no longer needing the thick eyeglasses she used to rely on.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES