11-year-old Bangladeshi treated for rare eye cancer at Massachusetts hospital

Arpita Rani, an 11-year-old girl from Bangladesh, has walked out of Massachusetts General Hospital on Thursday, conquering a sight as well as life-threatening rare eye cancer.

She received surgery from a Massachusetts Eye and Ear surgeon, followed by aggressive chemotherapy and proton beam radiation; medical care that she could not have received in Bangladesh, reported WCVB.

Arpita began having eyesight problems two years ago, with her right eye growing swollen and vision getting worse over the next years. 

Doctors eventually diagnosed her with adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), a very rare cancer of the tear duct gland, bone, and nervous system, next to her right eye.

The Bangladeshi community helped raise funds for Rani to travel to Boston with her father, where she would be in care for what lead to be five months. 

A team of doctors, nurses and support professionals with the help of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and MGH Center for Global Health got to work in removing Rani's tumour. 

"If you don't treat the cancer properly, it's at a high risk to reoccur. If you are too aggressive, you can impair the function of the eye," said Dr Lori Wirth, the medical director of Head and Neck Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. "

"This tumour is specifically rare, but it's quite rare in children," Dr Michael Yoon, Massachusetts Eye and Ear ophthalmologist said adding, "Arpita has taught me so much."

Arpita is planning to return with her father to Bangladesh next week, as one of many medical miracles of Massachusetts hospitals, cancer-free and with her eye intact.