Huang Chuncai was born in a village in Hunan, China. Neurofibromatosis type 1 seeded plexiform tumours on the nerves of his face. By early childhood the mass was obvious. By his thirties it weighed about 25 kilograms, hung to his waist, covered an eye, pulled an ear to the shoulder, knocked out his teeth, and bent his spine until he stood about 135 centimetres. Children called him the elephant man. He left school. He had to cradle the tumour to walk.

Fuda Cancer Hospital in Guangzhou took the case in 2007 after the story reached national media. The growth was a bag of vessels; surgeons said uncontrolled bleeding could kill him in minutes. The first operation, July 2007, took about 15 kilograms from the right side. A second, January 2008, took another 4.5 kilograms. Later stages, including a fourth around 2013–14, brought the total removed to about 21 kilograms. What remained was still large. Documentaries (BodyShock, TLC’s Body Bizarre) filmed the ward photographs that still circulate: Huang in striped pyjamas with the mass on the pillow, then seated between two surgeons in white coats.

NF1 is a genetic condition, not a single lump that can be cured. Plexiform neurofibromas grow for life and are richly supplied with blood. Debulking is staged because one sitting would empty the patient. Huang’s operations did not restore a conventional face or a full height. They took the weight off his neck so he could eat and sleep without holding his own head.

Reports after 2014 are thin. He was said to be living more quietly, perhaps helping the family noodle stall. “Largest facial tumour ever recorded” is a media phrase, not a registry title, but no larger documented facial plexiform mass is commonly cited. The Spanish caption’s fourth surgery and the 25-kilogram figure match the hospital timeline. The victory is subtraction: twenty-one kilograms gone, a man still here.

Sources

• Wikipedia / Reuters, 2007: first Fuda operations, 15 kg then 4.5 kg
• HuffPost / Metro / The Mirror, October 2014: fourth procedure, ~21 kg removed of a 25 kg mass
• Fuda Cancer Hospital surgeons (Wu Binghui and colleagues); TLC Body Bizarre / BodyShock “I Am the Elephant Man”