Welcome to the European Chapter of the Vascular Birthmarks Foundation, VBF Europe!

Every year in the United States, 40,000 children are born with a vascular birthmark, 85% of which are in the head and neck area. Statistics show us that the incidence is the same in other countries. These birthmarks include:

• Hemangiomas, the most common type of vascular birthmark
• Port Wine Stains
• Venous Malformations

No one knows why vascular birthmarks occur, but treatment guidelines are changing.

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Vascular Meeting in Madrid

Títle: “Scientific Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of infantile hemangiomas and vascular anomalies”
Date: 23rd September 2011
Place: Fundación Ramón Areces. C/ Vitruvio 5. Madrid
Inscription: free and open
Coordinators: Ignacio Sánchez-Carpintero and Ricardo Ruíz-Rodriguez
Web: www.seav.org

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Alderhey Childrens Hospital Eaton Road
Liverpool

Beginning in January 2009, Dr Waner will be visiting Liverpool on a regular basis to see patients and perform sugeries, working in conjunction with Mr Liew Consultant plastic surgeon.

We have a large vascular birtmarks service including a multidisciplinary team and a large vascular service.

Patients may contact:

cath.gorst@alderhey.nhs.uk

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See how our Chapter celebrated VBF Day of Awareness last year!

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SHAI’S STORY: Living with Multiple Hemangioma

Meet Shai Pearce, our newest Representative for VBF Europe. Read her incredible story of growing up with multiple hemangioma

I don’t really know where to start this.. But here goes. I was born in October 1990 and I seemed like a normal baby. However, when I was six weeks old my parents started to notice little red marks on the right side of my face and on the top right side of my back. They appeared like little tiny scratches at first, but they soon began to get bigger. My parents took me to the Doctor and he told my mum that they would disappear, but he still referred me to a paediatrician at the hospital.

The marks soon swelled and I was diagnosed with Multiple Hemangioma. It wasn’t able to be treated until it had grown to full size. I had a large one on the right side of my face, from my eye to just below my ear. One on my nose, lip, left ear, a huge one on my back which was about the size of a football and also one in my knee that stopped me from walking for a few months.

One night when my Dad was feeding me he noticed that I was taking an extra hitched breath when breathing. I was taken to hospital again and they discovered that I had one growing in my wind pipe, that was beginning to block it and making breathing hard. The Doctor’s said that this one could not be left, because eventually it would block completely and I would probably stop breathing, so they gave me steroids to shrink it. This worked, however I was then very prone to infections because it had weakened my immune system.

After it had finished involuting, I was left with very saggy skin on my face. My back was still quite large, but it had shrunk enough for me to have surgery. So at 2 ½ I had my first major operation to remove the Hemangioma from my back. The operation was originally only meant to last a few hours, however it ended up lasting 10! And I nearly had to have a blood transfusion. My mum says she remembers telling my Dad that she thought I was going to die and that it was an awful time. However I made it through and I was left with a scar stretching along the top of my back. The next operation I had was on my face. For this, they had to cut my ear off, and pull the excess skin back behind where my ear would be, and then put my ear back on. So I’m left with a scar behind my ear. The Hemangioma was too large to get rid of completely, so I still have a scar on my face. I also have a little bit of a fat lip, but its hardly noticeable. My other ear that had it on had to be completely reshaped because the Hemangioma had ruined it really, so my left ear is different to my right. The one on my nose was completely removed with no scarring. The one in my knee shrunk and went on its own. In all I had about four operations, the last one I had was in year 3 at school. After this my surgeon said that they would have to wait until I was 16, and then I could come back and see if anything more could be done.

In April 2007 I went back to the same Surgeon and he said that I could have another operation to tighten the skin up more as I had obviously grown. So on July 5th I had the operation, and I was awake, which was absolutely terrifying for me. However everything went well, and my scar is now even smoother, which I am pleased about, but I will be returning in June this year to see if there’s anything else that can be done.

Living with Multiple Hemangioma has been hard at times. Although I have been lucky that I haven’t really been bullied about it. I think I owe this to my Mum. She has always said to me since I was little that I was no different to anybody else, and I was to take no rubbish from nobody. My Mum made me a strong child and now a strong young adult. She pushed me to do everything that I might find scary, especially with scars. We dealt with people staring together because my sisters were older than me, it was just me and my mum against the world when I was little. I am insecure sometimes, but I’ve come to accept that this is the way I look, and if anyone is ever mean to me about it, its them with the problem, not me!

Me and my parents were so surprised when I found this website, I think its brilliant because when I was going through this as a baby, there wasn’t really anything for my parents. This site is great because it enables frightened parents, or people like myself to come and talk about their experiences and realize that there’s lots of people out there who are going through, or have been through what you have. It helps people not to feel alone, and that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Here are some pictures to show how it looked when I was a baby, and how it looks now I’m 17.

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Interview with our Greek Surgeon Dr Tombris

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