A Ho Chi Minh City hospital said Monday at least three surgeries must be conducted to remove an 80-kilogram tumor on a Dalat man, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

Doctors from the HCMC Oncology Hospital said they are willing to perform a free-of-charge surgery on Nguyen Duy Hai, who is carrying the largest-ever tumor in Vietnam on his leg.

Hai is diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis type I (NF-1), formerly known as von Recklinghausen disease, a human genetic disorder.

The hospital said it will conduct several tests before performing the first surgery on Hai.

“The success rate for the surgery is 75 percent,” Dr. Bui Chi Viet told Tuoi Tre.

The doctors added that the treatment process may last for months. 

Last Friday, a group of 10 doctors from the hospital paid a visit to the house of Hai in Dalat City in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

After examination, the doctors affirmed the non-cancerous tumor could be successfully removed.

Dr. Viet said Hai’s 61-year-old mother, Nguyen Thi Cho Con, also had Neurofibromatosis but with recessive characteristics.

Hai was a normal when he was born but his right leg grew quite bigger than the left leg when he turned four.

After doctors amputated his right leg 14 years ago, a tumor kept growing and has since swallowed portions of his buttocks and back.

The tumor is now around 1 meter wide and weighs roughly 80 kilograms (176 pounds).

He has had to remain in a permanent sitting position – even when he sleeps – and must rely on his mother to attend to all of his needs.

He has been living with the tumor since his poor family could not afford surgery to remove it.