Mother forced to live with BALLOONS under her skin to prepare her face for surgery to remove series of life-threatening growths

Jennifer Hiles, 28, from South Dakota, suffers from facial arterial venous malformation (AVM) - a malformation of veins and capillaries - which has left her face disfigured and almost killed her on multiple occasions. 



AVM causes the veins to dissipate, causing them to tangle and, when it flares up, spread like the 'branches of a tree'. The condition causes pain, skin breakdown, overgrowth of tissue, and can even cause heart failure. She is soon to have surgery to have the tangles removed from her face. Until then, doctors have put balloons under her skin to stretch it, so they have excess to cover up the scars when they cut out the growths. Mrs Hiles, pictured with her two daughters Marlina and Kiah, believes the operation will change her life. She said: 'I just want to be able to spend all of my time with my kids without people looking at me and calling me names. I just want to not be shy and be who I am without worrying about what people will think. AVM is so hard to deal with - it makes my gums bleed and has completely eroded the bone in my teeth, if they fall out I could bleed to death.'