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| Theary before surgery. |
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| Theary Pen Chan Sokun after her operation with mother Vaesna. (MATT MURPHY) |
2 May 11
By Tessa Hoffman
Moreland Leader (Australia)
RESCUED from the streets of Cambodia with a birthmark obscuring her face, Theary Pen Chan Sokun has endured much hardship in her short life.
But things are looking up after the Pascoe Vale Rotary Club arranged to fly the five-year-old to Melbourne for life-changing surgery to remove the potentially cancerous birthmark.
The congenital hairy nevus covering Theary’s right cheek and nose was predicted to lead to eyesight problems and possible brain tumours. The mark also attracted stares and taunts and left her ostracised.
“The kid(s) didn’t like to play or study with her because they think she(‘s) ugly,” said her aunt Shuley Pen Chan, who travelled to Melbourne with Theary and her adoptive mother, Vaesna, for the surgery.
Her adoptive family found her abandoned as a baby at a Buddhist temple and could not find anyone to treat her in Phnom Penh. But last year’s chance meeting between the family and Pascoe Vale Rotary president Peter Toomey turned everything around.
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