The first sign something was wrong came in the form of severe and constant headaches.
But when Tambu Makinzi's forehead began to swell, her fears were compounded.
Doctors in South Africa told the 27-year-old she was suffering a rare bone cancer, chondrosarcoma.
For four years the mother-of-one underwent a series of unsuccessful operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
But the tumour returned, more aggressive than ever.
It devoured her whole face, eating away at her nasal and jaw bones, displacing her left eye and robbing her of her sense of smell.
By the time she arrived in London earlier this year, having flown 6,000 miles from Cape Town, specialists warned Tambu she had just months to live. Without a complex, major operation she would die.
Tambu came to London where she met Professor Iain Hutchison. He runs the research charity Saving Faces, which is committed to the prevention and treatment of facial diseases.
Professor Hutchison, a maxillofacial surgeon working at Barts Hospital in London, assembled a team of six surgeons to help him perform the pioneering operation to remove Tambu's tumour.
First they removed 2kg of tumour pressing on her brain, eye and nose.
Then, using back muscle and rib, the professor and his team rebuilt Tambu’s face.
It was an operation that lasted over 24 hours. But with such a groundbreaking operation comes complications – and when the reconstruction failed the first time, Tambu’s life hung in the balance.
After more than 35 hours on the operating table Tambu was given a new face – built using flesh from her leg.
And the surgeons managed to save her right eye.
While she faces months of rehabilitation, Tambu is on the road to recovery, and can now enjoy the prospect of watching her daughter Pearl grow up.
Her story will feature on the Channel 5 documentary The Woman With No Face on Monday night.
In 2007, Tambu met the love of her life, the man who was to become her husband Peddy.
He said: 'The first time I met her was at a friend's wedding. I saw her and I was like "wow", the way she danced, I was like "she has to be mine".'
They married a year later, when they moved from Zimbabwe to South Africa.
Peddy said: 'We had dreams, she wanted to become a civil engineer and I wanted to do computer sequencing.' When the couple welcomed their daughter Pearl into the world in 2010, there was no hint of the illness that was to ravage Tambu.
Peddy said: 'I was so happy, she (Pearl) was a blessing to us.'
But less than a year later Tambu began to complain of suffering severe headaches. Prior to her operation the mother-of-one was spending most of her days sleeping, exhausted from carrying around the 2kg tumour.
One March morning earlier this year, Tambu was taken into the operating theatre for surgery.
Professor Hutchison warned her before they entered theatre that if the graft on her face failed, it would fail 100 per cent - and could result in her losing her life.
But when Tambu Makinzi's forehead began to swell, her fears were compounded.
Doctors in South Africa told the 27-year-old she was suffering a rare bone cancer, chondrosarcoma.
For four years the mother-of-one underwent a series of unsuccessful operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
But the tumour returned, more aggressive than ever.
It devoured her whole face, eating away at her nasal and jaw bones, displacing her left eye and robbing her of her sense of smell.
By the time she arrived in London earlier this year, having flown 6,000 miles from Cape Town, specialists warned Tambu she had just months to live. Without a complex, major operation she would die.
Tambu came to London where she met Professor Iain Hutchison. He runs the research charity Saving Faces, which is committed to the prevention and treatment of facial diseases.
Professor Hutchison, a maxillofacial surgeon working at Barts Hospital in London, assembled a team of six surgeons to help him perform the pioneering operation to remove Tambu's tumour.
First they removed 2kg of tumour pressing on her brain, eye and nose.
Then, using back muscle and rib, the professor and his team rebuilt Tambu’s face.
It was an operation that lasted over 24 hours. But with such a groundbreaking operation comes complications – and when the reconstruction failed the first time, Tambu’s life hung in the balance.
After more than 35 hours on the operating table Tambu was given a new face – built using flesh from her leg.
And the surgeons managed to save her right eye.
While she faces months of rehabilitation, Tambu is on the road to recovery, and can now enjoy the prospect of watching her daughter Pearl grow up.
Her story will feature on the Channel 5 documentary The Woman With No Face on Monday night.
In 2007, Tambu met the love of her life, the man who was to become her husband Peddy.
He said: 'The first time I met her was at a friend's wedding. I saw her and I was like "wow", the way she danced, I was like "she has to be mine".'
They married a year later, when they moved from Zimbabwe to South Africa.
Peddy said: 'We had dreams, she wanted to become a civil engineer and I wanted to do computer sequencing.' When the couple welcomed their daughter Pearl into the world in 2010, there was no hint of the illness that was to ravage Tambu.
Peddy said: 'I was so happy, she (Pearl) was a blessing to us.'
But less than a year later Tambu began to complain of suffering severe headaches. Prior to her operation the mother-of-one was spending most of her days sleeping, exhausted from carrying around the 2kg tumour.
One March morning earlier this year, Tambu was taken into the operating theatre for surgery.
Professor Hutchison warned her before they entered theatre that if the graft on her face failed, it would fail 100 per cent - and could result in her losing her life.
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