Community rallies together to help grad student with rare face condition

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 11/26/2018, 1:01 p.m.
The University of Akron community is rallying together to help a graduate student who was born with a facial malformation …
Lamise ElBetar, who is from Egypt, was born with a venous malformation, a mass of intertwined veins and muscle that has been growing since she was born.

By Kaylyn Hlavaty, Akron Beacon Journal

Akron, OH (WEWS) -- The University of Akron community is rallying together to help a graduate student who was born with a facial malformation or what she likes to call a "facial difference," according to News 5's media partners at the Akron Beacon Journal.

Lamise ElBetar, who is from Egypt, was born with a venous malformation, a mass of intertwined veins and muscle that has been growing since she was born. The mass now causes the lower right side of her face and lips to protrude.

A professor of marketing at the university wanted to find a way to help ElBetar in a country where there are many medical advances to treat a number of conditions.

A group of professors and staffers teamed up to secure a one-year scholarship and housing for ElBetar to return to the University of Akron to pursue another master's degree. At the same time, they also started consulting with local doctors.

Meanwhile, members of the university's Muslim community explored medical possibilities but had come up empty on possible treatments.

While ElBetar was back in Egypt in the summer of 2017, the two groups formed Team Lamise, which is now made up of 14 people trying to raise money through a GoFundMe account and forming a network of colleagues in Boston and Akron, where doctors have agreed to treat ElBetar.

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