Heartbreaking reason why 'Elephant Man' with biggest ever facial tumour had to leave school

School can be tough at the best of times but for Huang Chuncai, it was downright unbearable.

Known as 'China's Elephant Man', he has the world's biggest ever facial tumour which weighed in at a whopping 25kg.

The 47-year-old is believed to have the worst recorded case of neurofibromatosis that doctors across the globe have ever seen, which left him struggling to move, eat or even sleep.

Neurofibromatosis refers to a number of rare genetic condition that cause excessive cell growth which results in swellings, lumps and tumours growing randomly - and in Huang's case, it primarily affected his face.

But despite the tumours alarming appearance, they are not cancerous or contagious. Take a look at this:

The unusual growth first began appearing when Huang was just four-years-old, as his parents noticed that an array of lumps had started to pop up behind his ears.

He was taken to their local hospital in Hunan Province, Southern China, where he was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis - but medical intervention was not on the table for Huang.

His family could not afford to pay for the complicated operation to remove the tumours, while doctors also advised that surgery would be too risky to perform.

Instead, Huang's tumour was left to balloon in size.

(YouTube/TLC UK)

'Bigger and bigger'

The bloke previously told how it got so big that he was forced to cradle his 'enormous and heavy' growth when he was walking around, while the pressure of it on his spine also stunted his growth.

According to reports, this meant that Huang grew to just 4ft in height and gave him a hunchback.

His mother, He Baohua, told TLC's Body Bizarre: "They grew bigger and bigger every year until they began to hang down."

By the age of 31, the 'Elephant Man's' facial tumour weighed an astonishing 25kg and hung down to his waist.

When news of his debilitating condition went global and prompted a media circus, the Chinese government finally stepped in to offer to help Huang.

Surgeons at the Fuda Cancer Hospital in Guangzhou decided to attempt to remove, or at least reduce the size of, the tumour and miraculously got rid of 15kg of it from the right side of his face during Huang's first operation in July 2007.

In January 2008, Huang went under the knife again to remove another 4.5kg of tissue from the mass.

(YouTube/TLC UK)

Surgery

Chief physician at Fuda Hospital, Wu Binghui, said of the unusual case: "I was shocked, I had never seen a tumour as big as Haung’s on a human body.

"I was completely overwhelmed. The tumour was huge and full of blood. It would flow out when you cut it."

But after intricately operating on it on four occasions over seven years, medics miraculously managed to reduce the size of his tumour by a whopping 21kg.

Speaking of the successful surgery, his mum He said: "I think his face is smaller and thinner and we are so happy that his life is easier and happier now."

Huang added: "I feel really good, this time my face feels even better – much lighter and it’s easier to eat.

"I hope I can do some work and earn some money – I will be helping to run our local shop. I don’t look as scary as before now my tumour is much smaller."

(YouTube/TLC UK)

Playground bullies

Huang had reportedly been bombarded with offers to join 'freak shows' in China over the years, which he turned down.

The 'Elephant Man' explained he had more than enough unwanted stares and hurtful comments thrown in his direction during his school days, so the last thing he wanted was to become a public spectacle.

In fact, the endless taunting he endured caused him to drop out just a few years after he started his education at age eight.

Family friends said that people from the village were 'scared to see him' in the street, while Huang recalled how kids in his class would mock him for his appearance.

He heartbreakingly told Bizarre Bodies: "They all laughed and I was hurt by their words, so I quit school."

Huang jacked it in at the age of 12, just four years after he started school, as he was sick of being called the 'Elephant Man' by classmates.

Although they share a nickname, he does not suffer from the same condition associated with the original Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick, who was thought to have Proteus syndrome.

The most recent updates on Huang suggest the growths had appeared to began returning, but the multiple surgeries had allowed him to lead a relatively normal life.