WASHINGTON TERRACE -- When Maurice Simpson underwent surgery to remove large, disfiguring head and facial tumors, his life changed in more ways than he had anticipated.
The 33-year-old remains perhaps the most recognizable face in the Ogden area.
But now, he has become a celebrity.
When he went out in public after the surgery, he found that people treated him differently.
His wife, Charity, said one woman walked past the couple in the mall and quickly turned around and approached them.
"She said 'You're the guy from the paper,' " Charity said. "People are more compelled to talk to him now. They feel like they already know him."
And people generally are nicer, Simpson said.
"I don't feel like I get the looks and stares as much," he said. "I feel as if being in the paper and going through what I've gone through, people have more of an understanding now more than ever."
His experiences mirror a fantasy Simpson has had for years about getting out in the public eye so people could look at him and be done with it.
"I wanted to go on the news, be on a billboard so that everyone can see me and that will be it," he said. "Now, I'm out there."
Simpson has a genetic disorder called neurofibromatosis that causes nerve tissue to grow tumors on his face. Growing up, he had frequent surgeries to remove bulk from the tumors. But he gave up on medical procedures when he was 17, until recently when an area businessman offered to cover the costs.
The 12-hour surgery changed his appearance somewhat, but not as much as doctors and others had anticipated.
"(The doctor) came out and said 'I'd love to go on. I'd love to do more but he's just been in there too long,' " Charity Simpson said.
It was hard for doctors to plan about what they could accomplish with the surgery.
"A lot of it they didn't know," she said. "It was just get in there and see what they can do. A lot just falls apart under the tumors so you never know what you are getting."
But Simpson is happy with the results.
"I feel good about the surgery," Simpson said. "They removed my eye, reconstructed my nose, pretty much lifted up my whole right side of my face."
Gone is a tumor that was encroaching on his brain. His right ear and eyebrow now are more properly aligned with their counterparts and his nose is more defined. Doctors reattached a tendon in his mouth, improving the clarity of his speech.
But large tumors remain on his right cheek, pulling down his face and mouth.
"A lot of people were expecting a whole different, new me," Simpson said. "It's a lot of gradual steps."
He's planning to return to the surgical table in May or June, about the same time Charity will have the couple's fifth child. He's hoping doctors at that time will be able to remove the tumors on his cheek.
The couple has been touched by the response from the community.
They have received a number of gifts and many people have sent cards.
A woman with a granddaughter who is missing a limb made Simpson, who coaches youth basketball, a basketball-themed quilt. Another woman brought Simpson a teddy bear she made.
"Everyone in the community has been very supportive," Charity Simpson said, noting that she hasn't had to cook much because people started arriving at her home with treats and dinners.
Current and former employers raised money to help the couple offset the cost of both Simpson and his wife having to take so much time off work.
And a blood drive at Charity Simpson's workplace - also formerly Simpson's workplace - Macey's Market in South Ogden, netted 29 donations as well as a handful from people who could not attend that day.
Also surprisingly generous was Simpson's insurance company, which informed Simpson of plans to pay all but his maximum out-of-pocket expenses for the year.
"Our angel's portion is much less than he had planned," Charity said. "The max is all he's going to have to pay. He was thinking hundreds, thousands more."
But the time off has been hard on Simpson who misses his active lifestyle.
"Being home hours and hours when I'm used to working eight to 14 hours in a day, it's a big difference," he said.
Last week, he worked seven hours. This week, he'll work 15. But adding time at work is difficult when his surgical injuries prevent him from getting much sleep.
The most painful is an unexpected bed sore on his tailbone his wife believes is a pressure crack that occurred as a result of Simpson receiving so much blood, 20 units in all.
Simpson also has pain in his leg where doctors removed muscle from his thigh to place around his eye socket and head.
And the pain from removed tumors has created another disturbance in the way Simpson sleeps, limiting him to two to three hours at a time.
"Pretty much, I can only lie on my left side," he said. Before, he always lay on his right side. "The tumors had a lot of cushion," he said.
But despite all the sacrifices to rid himself of the tumors, Charity said the likelihood is high they will return.
"We don't know until time passes if they will grow back," Charity said. "Time will tell. They may have to go in again in 10 years.
Comments