18 hours, 20 specialists, 3.3kg tumours: Inside marathon surgery that saved Lucy Gathoni
By Willow Health, April 22, 2026Behind the closed doors of a Nairobi Hospital operating theatre, a team of 20 medical specialists achieved a medical milestone never before documented in Africa: the complete rebuilding of a human face.
29-year-old Lucy Gathoni had spent 17 years trapped behind a massive, distorting tumour that began as a small swelling when she was just 12 years old.
By the time she reached the operating table on Good Friday, April 18, 2025, the growths had erased the face she was born with, leaving her unable to breathe through her nose or eat solid food.
The marathon 18-and-a-half-hour surgery saw surgeons remove a staggering 3.3kg of tumour—the equivalent of carrying a newborn baby attached to one’s jaw.
Domestic toll
Lucy’s journey to the operating theatre was marked by more than just medical struggle. Her mother, Peris Mwaura, revealed the devastating domestic toll the illness took on their family in Othaya.
“My marriage was affected because of Lucy’s illness,” Peris recalled.
“Her father said we should leave his home because they don’t have sick people where he comes from. He left in 2008 and has never returned.”
Left single, broke, and asthmatic, Peris carried the weight of her daughter’s condition alone until 2017, when Rev Fr Joseph Waithaka entered their lives.
The priest refused to walk away, eventually organizing a harambee and approaching Archbishop Anthony Muheria, who helped coordinate the pro bono surgical team.
The complexity of the case meant that traditional bone grafting was impossible.
“There’s no place you can start going for bones to reconstruct her. It’s not there,” explained lead surgeon Prof Symon Guthua. “You would make her even weaker.”
Instead, the team used 3D digital mapping to virtually “remove” the tumours and design patient-specific titanium implants. These custom-made plates, valued at Ksh5 million, had to be engineered and flown in from Belgium specifically for Lucy’s skull.
The surgery
The surgery commenced at 8:35 am on Good Friday. The atmosphere in the theatre was one of “rhythmic clinking” and “steady beeping” as specialists navigated a dense web of blood vessels.
9:00 am: Surgeons perform a tracheotomy to secure Lucy’s airway, which had been severely compromised by the facial disfigurement.
3:40 pm: The final mass is lifted. The room erupts in applause as 3.3kg of tissue is cleared from Lucy’s head.
5:15 pm: The reconstruction begins. Surgeons meticulously screw the titanium framework into Lucy’s upper and lower jaws.
1:20 am (Saturday): After 18 hours, Lucy’s head is wrapped in gauze. The historic reconstruction is complete.
A new identity
Two days after the surgery, Lucy was moved out of the ICU. When Prof Guthua finally handed her a mirror, the transformation was so profound that it was noted she would likely need a new National ID; the face in the mirror no longer matched the face on her legal documents.
While the surgical procedure itself is now covered under Kenya’s Social Health Authority (SHA) for complex cases, Lucy’s story highlights a critical gap: the Ksh5 million cost for specialized implants remains outside government coverage, leaving the most vulnerable to rely on charity.
Today, back home in Othaya, Lucy is gaining weight and learning to live in a body that finally feels like her own.
“I am so happy. I will invite you to a Thanksgiving Mass,” she told media during a post-surgery review.