• In the Loop: Sampson returns home to Liberia

patient from Liberia, Sampson, walking and smiling with Greta Van Susteren
After several months and several surgical treatments at Mayo Clinic, Sampson returned with pride to the Liberian village where he had once been labeled an outcast due to facial deformities that marred his appearance and his vision.  

As Rochester's KTTC-TV reports, Sampson came to Rochester with the help of MSNBC's Greta Van Susteren and international relief organization Samaritan's Purse. A team of doctors at Mayo Clinic successfully removed multiple tumors from Sampson's eyes and the left side of his face. The growths were caused by neurofibromatosis, a condition Sampson was born with. It's a condition that — as we reported when Sampson first came to Rochester — led some fellow villagers to label him an outcast. But thanks to plastic surgeon Samir Mardini, M.D., and others at Mayo Clinic, all of that is now in the past for Sampson. Read the rest of Sampson's story.  ______________________________________________
This story originally appeared on the In the Loop blog.