MIAMI (CNN) - Efforts to save a Cuban boy who had a basketball-size tumor on his face have failed.
Emanuel Zayas, 14, had surgery in Miami to treat the benign tumor, but he later developed kidney and lung complications.
His doctors and family members say he passed away from those complications Friday night.
The boy was brought to Miami because it was difficult for Cuban doctors to remove the 10-pound tumor.
Though the tumor was benign, its immense size threatened Emanuel's life.
“If nothing is done, it could fracture his neck," said Dr. Robert Marx, chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery for the University of Miami Health System,in a pre-surgery press conference, the Miami Herald report.
Emanuel's remains were donated to science so doctors can study his rare condition, called polyostotic fibrous dysplasia.
Copyright 2018 CNN. All rights reserved. Raycom News Network contributed to this report.
