Vietnamese Baby With Facial Tumor Gets Adopted in the US, Reunites With Birth Parents at 18

'Those of us who are blessed with 'more than we need' are obligated to give back,' says the adoptive mom

Courtesy of Hope Cantu Ettore

A Vietnamese baby born with a large facial tumor, who was given up for adoption, has reunited with his birth parents at the age of 18 after growing up in California.

Sam Ettore was born in Phu Rieng, Vietnam, with a benign cavernous hemangioma covering half his face. He was transferred to a hospital in the country’s capital, Ho Chi Minh City, and on to Go Vap Orphanage, where John and Hope Ettore of the United States found him. He was malnourished, blind in one eye, and riddled with scabies and other skin infections.