Miracle of our birthmark baby (From Echo)

Miracle of our birthmark baby

7:00am Saturday 14th January 2012 in Rayleigh / Rochford

A LITTLE girl whose birthmark was literally strangling her to death can finally smile after becoming the first person in the UK to trial a miracle drug.

Adorable Millie Field, three, was born with a small, blue mark on her face which doctors told her parents Michelle and Stuart was a bruise from a particularly quick labour.

However, within a matter of days the mark had developed into an angry and ulcerated red growth which not only left Millie disfigured, but was also forming a stranglehold on her windpipe, jaw and voice box.

As the birthmark continued to grow, Millie needed a tracheotomy just to breathe, which left her unable to make a sound.

But now, Millie can speak, smile and do everything other toddlers can do thanks to a gamble on a wonder drug which gave her a new lease of life.

Bank worker Michelle, 37, of Harewood Avenue, Rochford, said: “Millie is a little fighter. Right from the beginning she was not going to let this thing beat her and we are just so proud of everything she has had to overcome.

“The results of the drug were instant. We could see before our very eyes the birthmark was changing colour and getting smaller over a period of days. Now she is doing remarkably well. It's completely changed her life.

“I’m just so grateful for everything the doctors and nurses have done for us in allowing Millie to live a totally normal life, which at one point we feared would never be possible."

Michelle, who has a son Ben, 15, had longed for another child with Stuart, a fraud investigator when, after months of fertility treatment she eventually fell pregnant with Millie.

While the pregnancy had been completely normal, Millie came into the world after just over an hour’s labour. When she was born, Michelle noticed a bluish mark on her face along her jawline, which was thought was a bruise.

But just weeks later, Millie suddenly stopped feeding and by the following day she had major breathing problems. She was rushed to Southend Hospital and transferred to Great Ormond Street the following morning.

At just 20 days old, Millie was placed in intensive care suffering from a large hemangioma – a tumour made up of blood vessels which was growing at a staggering rate and cutting off her air supply.

The tumour was feeding off Millie’s independent blood supply and growing all over her face, neck and windpipe.

Millie spent the next six months of her life in GOSH being given strong steroids to shrink the tumour. However, they had little effect and over time the mark began to ulcerate and scar, leaving her open to frequent infections.

Eventually, doctors made the decision to give Millie a tracheotomy in a seven-hour operation to allow her to breathe.

The breathing tube required round-the-clock maintenance and meant she would not be able to make even the smallest sound.

Millie's future seemed uncertain until one day Michelle heard about a new drug trial taking place in France.

There, doctors had seen some success in treating hemangiomas with a drug called Propranolol, a beta-blocker used to treat hypertension and some heart conditions.

However, with Millie’s health continuing to deteriorate, doctors were at first reluctant to take a risk on something that might not work and might even worsen her health.

Michelle said: “In the end we had to try it, especially seeing the difference it had made for other children. She wasn’t improving and had no quality of life – she was just getting worse and worse.”

Eventually the doctors relented and while under strict supervision Millie was given the drug in slowly increasing doses.

Miraculously, the birthmark which had blighted her young life began to fade before her parents’ very eyes.

Michelle said: “It changed her life completely. The tumour was really sore and she never liked to be touched or picked up because it gave her so much pain.

“But now, we were able to kiss and cuddle her and within a few days she was able to move her head from side to side.”