DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - The moment Patience Adu learned that a doctor in Dallas would operate on her face, she began to dance and sing at The Village of Hope in Ghana, West Africa.

“I’ll tell him, God bless him,” she said after arriving at Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas.

On Thursday, Dr. David Genecov will operate to remove non-cancerous tumors inside her cheek. Her right cheek is swollen from the tumors that have expanded for years and Patience says some of the children tease her.

“They’d be laughing at me,” she says.

Dr. Genecov says the rare facial deformity is called Lymphangioma.

“Because it’s in her mouth and exposed, somewhat inside her mouth, it’s exposed to all the bacteria as well,” says Dr. Genecov.

Dr. Genecov says when the tumors expand, it is painful for Patience, and that has caused her not to eat as much as she should.

“If it is big, it hurts me,” says Patience.

The Village of Hope is an orphanage in Ghana where more than 200 children live and go to school. A number of members of Prestoncrest Church of Christ in Dallas help support the village.

Dr. Genecov says another Dallas cosmetic surgeon first told him about Patience.

Genecov says Forest Park Medical Center in Dallas will perform the surgery for free. Patience is staying with a host family while she’s in Dallas. Her recovery is expected to take two weeks.

Genecov says only one surgery is needed and Patience will return to Ghana when she recovers.

“She’s definitely somebody that you’d like to help,” says Genecov.

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