Young East beats tumour, burns to excel at US university
“STAY STRONG, take courage.” Those are the words 22-year-old Daniel East, an alumnus of Calabar High School, has used as comfort through two of the most difficult times in his life.
He graduated in May 2017 and after a summer internship, he applied to a United States-based college and began preparing for SAT exams.
Seven months later, he woke up with a swollen face at his Craig Hill, St Andrew, home.
After observing the swelling for a couple weeks, he visited the dentist and was referred to a maxillofacial specialist.
“He took an X-ray and realised that there was a mass that was growing on my left jaw, and upon doing the biopsy, they realised that it was a benign tumour known as an odontogenic myxoma,” he recounted, adding that the tumour grew to the point where his jawbone began deteriorating.
In pre-surgery discussions, the plan was to conduct an external operation in July 2018, which would include the loss of six teeth and scarring to his face.
But East was in shock when he woke up from the surgery, as he could not feel the scar he had expected on his face.
The teen had undergone a complete left maxillectomy after the surgeon decided that because he was so young, he wanted to preserve his external appearance as much as possible.
“He had to take out my incisors on the left side to access the tumour and to be able to do everything from the inside, rather than having to cut my face.
“They had to remove my entire left maxillary bone, my upper jaw, which included eight of my teeth, and they also had to remove the lower orbit of my left eye and replace it with a titanium mesh,” East explained.
Prior to the complete left maxillectomy, East was injured in a hot-water accident at home, a few months before the sitting of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) in fifth form.
“I was carrying a pot of hot water because it was cold and I needed hot water to shower. I was carrying it up the stairs and somehow I slipped and fell.”
He sustained burns on his right hand, face and abdomen and was hospitalised for a week.
“I thought I could not have taken my CSEC exams that year. I was absolutely distraught,” he recalled.
SUPPORT
East had trouble writing and typing but with the support of family, friends and teachers, he was able to submit all School-Based Assessments (SBAs) and write his own exams by switching between his right and left hands.
He pulled through that challenge and earned 10 subjects in that sitting.
The Calabar alumnus told The Gleaner that in the first month post-surgery, he was grateful that the tumour was no more as he did not have a scar and was able to sing again.
But then he began to feel ashamed, as he moved from a “handsome young man to someone who was eight teeth less”. He was also placed on a soft food and liquid diet, which caused him to lose a significant amount of weight.
For months, he did not venture out in public and cut off communication with his high school friends.
“My self-confidence was shattered. I did not go to church for about six months after surgery. To get a haircut, my mom would shave my head. I only left home to go to the doctor and my mom would take me to and from. I was avoiding people at all costs,” he shared.
East was i n recovery and isolation mode until February 2019.
The warm embrace he received from his church family, when he finally decided to return, paved the way for him to move forward. He worked as a l aboratory assistant and instructor in the biology department at his alma mater, before leaving Jamaica for Grinnell College, a private liberal arts institution in Iowa, in the summer of 2019.
The student is pursuing studies in chemistry and neuroscience on a US$49,000 international student grant he received.
To date, he still has challenges pronouncing certain letters and consonant blends, as a result of the surgery. An excellent Spanish student, he had to take one step back from an upper-level class, as he took on the task of relearning to speak some aspects of the language.
East is on the cusp of being awarded a summer research fellowship at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and harbours dreams of becoming a professor.
The young scholar is actively working on getting a dental prosthesis, but for now he embraces his current self even as he battles with a depressive disorder, which began on his last lap of high school.
He meets with a psychiatrist every month and a therapist weekly.
“God is with me and he is not going to let me down. I have made it this far and there is absolutely no reason I can’t make it to the end,” he remarked.