For most of her life, 15-year-old Lai Thi Dao has lived a life that many teenagers could not comprehend.

For the past 10 years, a slowly growing tumor has gradually consumed the lower part of the Vietnamese girl's face. As it grew, normal tasks such as talking, eating, drinking and sleeping became increasingly difficult.

Lai has never been to school. And since the tumor is heavy and located on one side of her body, even walking has become a challenge.

Tragically, the growth, known as a schwannoma tumor, started off as little more than a cyst on Lai's tongue. At this stage, the surgery to remove the growth would have been quick, cheap and relatively painless. But Lai had little access to medical care where she lived, leaving the tumor to continue to grow.

Now, a team of surgeons at the University of Miami is preparing for a marathon 10-hour procedure next Tuesday intended to cut away the growth, which now weighs an estimated 10 pounds and could be the largest recorded tumor of its kind reported in the medical literature.

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