Doctors in Staten Island successfully performed a grueling 10-hour operation to remove a 12-year-old girl's massive, life-threatening tumor — it's an update on a story you saw only on NY1.
Janet Sylva — originally from The Gambia — underwent the surgery Monday at Cohens Children's Hospital in Glen Oaks.
A team of surgeons took out a tumor that had been growing in her mouth for about three years.
A charity called the Global Medical Relief Fund brought Janet and her mother to Staten Island for the procedure last month after they failed to get medical help in The Gambia and Senegal.
A second team of surgeons also took a bone from Janet's leg to rebuild her jawbone.
Doctors say Janet is doing well and resting in the intensive care unit.