One of the happiest moments in any parent’s life is the day that their baby is born. This includes Celine Casey, who welcomed Vienna Brookshaw, her new daughter in April 2021. They live in the United Kingdom and when she looked down at her little girl, she noticed that she had a birthmark between her eyebrows on her forehead.
The good news is, the birthmark didn’t affect the little girl’s health. It is known as congenital melanocytic nevus (CMN), and there was some concern that as she grew up, she would struggle with some emotional issues as a result of it. It would probably have gotten larger as she grew.
Since the condition is so rare, it is difficult to know for sure how the birthmark would react as she got older. Her mother did want her to go through the challenge of growing up with it, so she talked to the doctors to see if there was something that could be done to resolve it.
Casey said: “We enjoy watching her grow on her journey, and we look forward to the day she grows up and can express her own thoughts. We’d love her no matter what, even if we kept the birthmark.”
They realized from the time that she was a young baby that people would not understand the birthmark. They would treat her differently and stare at her, so they determined that they were going to have the birthmark removed if at all possible.
The NHS said that the surgery was not necessary for her physical health so they turned them down. They said it was a cosmetic surgery and not essential.
A fundraising campaign was started to gather together the money to have the surgery. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic stopped them from moving forward. They had gathered $52,000 but they needed $27,000 more.
Again, they went back to the crowdfunding resource to get the extra money. She said: “Everyone has things they feel unsure about in their body. The doctor said it wouldn’t affect Vienna’s mental health right now. But we didn’t see it that way. She’s starting school at three, and little kids are clever; they notice things like that.”
Now that Vienna is two years old, she has had the birthmark removed. There is still a slight scar on her forehead but she is healing and people regularly say how beautiful she is.
The best news is, she is a happy and healthy 2-year-old and it does not look as if she will need any more medical attention because of this issue.