'I was told lump was a cosmetic issue - now I've had my chin rebuilt'
A university student diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, initially dismissed as a 'cosmetic issue', feels "like Frankenstein" after undergoing surgery to rebuild her chin using tissue from her leg. Bea Churchill, 23, was studying biochemistry when she first noticed a small lump on her chin in August 2022.
She consulted a GP, who she claimed thought it was a harmless lipoma - a benign fatty lump - and put her on a year-long NHS waiting list for cosmetic removal. However, over the next year, the lump visibly grew and began to affect Bea's confidence - leading her family to shell out £2,000 for private surgery.
But what was supposed to be a routine removal turned into a life-altering event when Bea was diagnosed with papillary intralymphatic angioendothelioma - an extremely rare type of cancer. She has since undergone several surgeries, including a facial reconstruction using skin, fat and an artery from her thigh.
The graft grows hair - resulting in leg hair sprouting from her chin. She is now fundraising for laser hair removal, which is expected to cost more than £300.
Bea, who volunteers at a centre for adults with disabilities in Leatherhead, Surrey, said: "I do feel a bit like Frankenstein. I felt ugly, I felt really, really ugly. There's such a pressure on women to look pretty and it's really hard to not be that anymore."
Bea first noticed the lump while studying at the University of East Anglia in August 2022. "I went to the GP and they said it was nothing - just a lipoma," she said. "They gave it an ultrasound and put me on a waiting list to get it cosmetically removed."
However, the lump continued to grow despite her wait. "People would ask me at bars or events if I'd been in a fight or fallen over," she revealed. "I felt really insecure. I became a bit of a hermit."
In November 2023, her family decided to pay £2,000 for private removal surgery as a birthday gift. "All my family put their money together. I was really grateful," she said.
But during the procedure, the nurse noticed something unusual.
"She said 'I have seen hundreds of lipomas and this is not a lipoma'," Bea recalled. "She said I could pay £300 more to have it tested and we all agreed we should."
A month later, Bea received a cancer diagnosis and had to leave university, which she described as "absolutely devastating". Due to the rarity of the tumour, she said doctors were unsure of how to treat it.
So, in May 2024, she underwent Mohs micrographic surgery to assess its depth. Her chin was removed and the bone left exposed for a month.
Bea said: "So I had this massive great hole in my face. My chin was basically cut off at that point and my jaw bone was exposed.
"It was pretty brutal. It was really gory seeing my own jaw bone."
Then, on June 18, she underwent major surgery - lasting eight-and-a-half hours - using tissue and an artery from her thigh in a "free flap" procedure. Surgeons removed the remaining tumour, rebuilt her chin, and connected a thigh artery to her neck to keep the tissue alive.
"They plugged the hole with the fat and skin and then connected the artery from my chin to feed it with blood to my neck," she said. "So I had a big incision on my thigh from just above the knee all the way to my groin. I had an incision around my neck where they connected the arteries together and I had my chin removed and the bone scraped again."
While recovering, Bea was unaware she'd lost function in her leg due to overstretched femoral nerves and attempted to stand, but collapsed. The tumble caused internal bleeding and she was rushed back into emergency surgery. Despite the difficult recovery, Bea's body was cancer-free.
"I was just completely elated to have survived this crazy surgery on my face and not have cancer in my body anymore," she said. But the free flap on her face was large and noticeable.
"There's a picture of a dog that's been stung in the face by a bee and it really looked like that," she said. "I didn't really look in the mirror for a long time.
"Before this I was really popular with people and I got hit on a lot. I played volleyball and was really sporty.
"I did a cool degree and I was young and went clubbing so I felt really good about myself. Then all of sudden, in less than a year my face was maimed and I couldn't walk. I felt ugly."
As she began recovering, Bea discovered a side effect of the flap - it started sprouting leg hair.
She explained: "My free flap was taken from my thigh, so I have leg hair on the free flap on my chin. It grows hair like a leg would.
"It gets goosebumps like a leg would, it reacts exactly how leg skin does, which is very different from face skin. It has a completely different colour from my face.
"It's really bizarre. I do feel a bit like Frankenstein. People asked me about my face because they were curious about my chin and I've had lots of people be quite nasty to me in public since I've had this surgery."
She's since undergone multiple operations to shrink the flap size and is now hoping to raise £300 for laser hair removal to rebuild her confidence.
"It would go a long way into helping me feel a bit less monstrous," she said. "It would definitely improve my confidence. I think growing hair on the entirety of your chin is quite stark."
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