Youngster With Facial Deformity Reveals New Look
Posted March 22, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Kokou Azoupko is a very different boy than the one who arrived in Canada from Togo last November.
To most people it looked like this young boy had a bump on his face, but the growth was actually part of his brain that had grown out of a hole in his skull.
When students at the Prince of Peace Catholic School in Scarborough heard about Kokou, they got together with several other organizations and community members to raise $31,000 needed for an operation that would remove the protusion. They beat their goal by $20,000.
Kokou visited the school Thursday to thank the teachers, students and principal for helping him be a normal kid.
“We thought he had a growth on his face and we thought it was plastic surgery that he needed,” said retired principal Bob Kalisz.
“When I saw him running into the school I was shocked that that was him. It was unbelievable,” said student Grace Prem.
Although Kokou will head back to Togo at the end of April, the fundraising continues at Prince of Peace as they hope to raise enough money to build a school in his hometown.
