Nation & World News
Free of basketball-sized tumor, Lissa the Rhino is a cancer survivor
Lissa, a 3,600-pound white rhino at roams the grounds at Lion Country Safari, June 15, 2017. Lissa is a cancer survivor, has had eight surgeries over the past four years to remove a large tumor from her horn. She is alive and doing well. (Greg Lovett / The Palm Beach Post)
Lissa doesn't need a bright ribbon to designate her a cancer survivor, she's a rhino after all. Where would she put it? Instead it is what's absent on Lissa that attests to her battle – unlike her herdmates, Lissa is missing the pointy protuberance that should sit at the end of her snout.
Her horn is but a stump.
Four years ago, Lissa went under the knife – and hand shears and electric saw – eight times as surgeons hacked it off. They were in a race to excise a mushed basketball-sized tumor the likes of which no wildlife authorities in the world had ever seen, much less tried to cure.
>> Read the full story on MyPalmBeachPost.com
