My daughters birthmark

~WELCOME~

Hello and welcome to my page about my daughter. I wanted to make this page
to help inform people of her condition. Many people are aware of the fact
that some people have birthmarks, but few are aware of the fact that they
can take a childs life, as it nearly did my daughters.

My daughter has a birthmark called a capillary hemangioma. It is a birthmark that can grow. Hers has grown internally as well as externally. The external portion has been hard on her because of the disfigurement of her face. People, adults included, can be so cruel.

The internal portion has been the real battle of her life. The birthmark grew inside of her, it grew inside of her esophagus (throat), in her chest, neck, and her head. These were all very dangerous to her health, but the growth in her esophagus was the most dangerous. She was put on steroids to help reduce the growing of the birthmark and she had five laser surgeries to remove the growth inside of her esophagus.

Our daughter has spent countless hours in Childrens hospital, and we have had to call 911 numerous times. 911 would be called to our house at least once a week. The people around us in the medical field got to know her very well. Her main problem was the breathing due to the birthmark in the esophagus. We would sit and hold her and she would just stop breathing.

She also had problems with bleeding. The birthmark in her neck swelled up so badly that it split the skin open and caused it to bleed. She had seizures up until about 2 years of age. She was also a late walker due to her head being tilted from the swelling in her neck.

Time was to be her true healer. The doctors did what they had to do to keep her alive, for which we are very grateful, but mostly it was a waiting game. By the time she turned 3 the birthmark quit swelling and what had swollen started to regress. She was then tapered off of the steroids and did not require any more surgeries. This was a great relief to her parents. :-)

Also at the age of 3 we found out that she was blind in one eye, after searching to find out why we came across more problems for our little girl. They found that an aneurysm was pressing against her optic nerve. They do not know if the aneurysm is from the birthmark or not. I think that my guess would be that it does, because they are not doing surgery on it because it is such a rare thing in a child. We have to take her to Childrens Hospital for an MRI every year to monitor it for changes.

She is now 8 years old and does not have to frequent the hospital now other than yearly check of her aneurysm. She is scheduled for cosmetic surgery this summer to repair some of the scarring that the birthmark left on her face and neck. I do believe that she has survived all of this trauma. After this cosmetic surgery she should be well on her way to looking like a normal child.

IN CLOSING...

I would like to thank you for stopping by and for taking the time to read this page. I hope that this will help to give people more information on birthmarks. And I also hope that the next time someone sees a child that looks different that they will take a moment to think of what that child may be going through physically as well as emotionally.

Click here for pictures.

Click here for her favorite song

AN UPDATE 10/99...

Hi just thought I would add an update. My daughter had her cosmetic surgery, but she will have to have many more. I do not know how many but we are suppose to schedule the next one for next summer. She did very well with the surgery, they did some work on her eye, nose and neck. She was teased a bit by some kids about having stitches but not terribly bad. Over all it went well. She also had her yearly MRI for the anueryism and all looks well with it. So now she is free until summer rolls around again. I will add an update then. Thanks for stopping by our page.

Teresa

firestorm72@wildmail.com
Feel free to contact me with any
questions or comments.

Teresa

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