Romeo Sithole needs help. The reason is not hard to find.

The once handsome young man has turned into an ogre. He has developed an unpleasant growth on his chin, making him a laughing stock of many people.

Wherever he goes, children stare at him, because to them he has become a joke.

"I am making an appeal to parents to teach them something about life, because it is not a nice thing to see them laugh at me as if I am responsible for what has happened to me," he said.

"I am tired of these stares and would like to them to give me a break," he added.

That is the reason he says he has approached Mirror because "you have helped countless people who have had problems. My last hope is you, Mirror, to publish my plight," he added.

Sithole was born 34 years ago. He seemed destined for good things in life, but that was before he developed a growth on the side of his face in 1986, and what seemed to be life full of promises, crumbled in his face.

"I still remember a scar on the spot where the growth is now, but the scar healed after some time," he said. The growth was treated at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in 1997 and it subsided, but doctors could not explain to me what it was." Sithole said that he was relieved and thought of leading a normal life again.

Out of the blue, in 2000 the growth started again, but he did not take it seriously as he thought that it would disappear as it did before. "It grew in size and I could not bear the pain that grew with it, more especially on cloudy days," he said.

Sithole said that the smell of the fluid that accompanied the growth was unbearable and it weakened his relationship with his wife and it needed a lot of explanation for her to understand. "I am just glad that she has come to accept me as I am and embrace me. We are now a closely knit family and the children also understand my situation," he said.

He said that his wife is always there to support him and take care of him in times of pain.

"Sometimes the pain is so unbearable that I feel like dying, and sometimes I even think of taking an ordinary knife and cutting the growth out myself, to relieve myself of the pain," he said.

"I am pleading for urgent help to keep me out of this situation that I have not chosen, but I will take any help as it comes," he said.

Sithole, a father of three, says his problem is that he cannot afford specialised treatment as he is unemployed and he is making a special appeal to all good caring South Africans to open their hearts and help him.

"I am helpless and poor, please help me out of this misery, he concluded. Anyone willing to help him can contact him at: 079 365 1565.