Baby Millie Field whose birthmark was strangling her to death recovers thanks to wonder drug

By
Louise Eccles

Last updated at 1:20 AM on 12th January 2012


Smiling at last: Three-year-old Millie Field with her mother Michelle

Smiling at last: Three-year-old Millie Field with her mother Michelle

A three-year-old whose birthmark was strangling her to death can finally smile after becoming the first patient in Britain to trial a pioneering treatment.

When Millie Field was born, midwives dismissed the small blue mark on her face as a bruise caused during delivery.

But within days, it had developed into a large, red growth which had a lethal stranglehold on her windpipe, jaw and voicebox.

Doctors diagnosed hemangioma, a birthmark caused by a benign tumour of the blood vessels in the skin.

It can grow rapidly – and in severe cases, such as Millie’s, it can block the airways.

By the time she was three weeks old, Millie was in intensive care with major breathing difficulties.

She had a tracheostomy tube fitted in a seven-hour operation, which enabled her to breathe but left her unable to make a sound.

Her devastated parents, bank worker Michelle, 37, and Stuart, 36, a fraud investigator, feared their daughter might never be able to breathe independently, let alone talk or smile.

Mrs Field, of Rochford, Essex, said: ‘One of the saddest parts was not being able to feed her and look after her and never hearing her cry or make a sound.

‘The tumour was growing everywhere meaning she couldn’t suck, swallow and breathe at the same time.

‘It all happened so fast.  One minute we had our baby daughter, and were imagining what she was going to do in the future, and the next minute all those things felt like a dream.’

Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital, in London, gave Millie strong steroids to shrink the tumour, but these had little effect.

With her daughter still seriously  ill in hospital after six months, Mrs Field heard about a drug trial in France for propranolol, a beta-blocker traditionally used to treat hypertension and heart conditions, which had been shown to shrink hemangiomas.

Mrs Field said: ‘We discussed it with
Millie’s dermatologist and with her ear, nose and throat specialist, but
at that time because she had pneumonia and was having breathing
problems they didn’t think it was a good idea.

‘But
in the end we had to try it. She needed morphine on a regular basis
just to make her comfortable. She had no quality of life and was just
getting worse and worse.’

Recovery: Millie started to improve after taking propanolol, a beta blocker normally given to patients suffering hypertension and heart conditions

Recovery: Millie started to improve after taking propanolol, a beta blocker normally given to patients suffering hypertension and heart conditions

Beginning: The red mark as it started to form when Millie was just a few weeks old

Beginning: The red mark as it started to form when Millie was just a few weeks old

The gamble paid off. Millie’s condition started to improve almost immediately, the birthmark began to shrink and fade, and within a week she was allowed home  from hospital.

Mrs Field, who also has a 15-year-old son, Ben, said: ‘It’s completely changed her life. The tumour was really sore and she never liked to be touched or picked up because it gave her so much pain.

‘But then we were able to kiss and cuddle her, and within a few days she was able to move her head from side to side.’

However, Millie’s battle was far from
over. The tumour had caused so much damage that she had to have a new
airway constructed using a piece of rib cartilage last year.

She
stopped taking the drugs last August after two years of treatment, and
this month will undergo surgery to reconstruct her lip.

Millie aged 2 months, pictured with her mother, Michelle

Millie aged five months with her father Stuart at Great Ormond Street Hospital

Ordeal: Millie pictured at two months with her mother, Michelle, and at five months with her father, Stuart. Her condition became so severe she had to be given morphine on a regular basis just to make her comfortable

Mrs Field said: ‘She still has some speech problems because of the damage to her mouth, but she can basically do everything a normal three-year-old can do.

‘I sometimes worry about how people will react to her when she starts school as my instinct is to protect her.

‘As far as I’m concerned she is beautiful. We are just glad she has been given the chance to live her life like any other little girl.’

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
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The comments below have been moderated in advance.

I’m so glad, and feel so blessed, I live in a society where there is medical help for a problem like this….she is a beautiful little girl and I am so pleased for her and the family! God Bless you all.

Bless her, I’m so pleased she’s ok and she is beautiful. x

BIG LOVE to you Millie!

OMG! She’s cute as a button! Wonderful ending.

bless her !

What a darling little girl. Best wishes for a long, happy life.

Thoughts and prayers to her and her family. No child deserves this…in the first, third or any world.

Beautiful little girl.

Yeah! A good story to make us happy. Glad I read this read this. God Bless you little lady have a great life!

She is a lovely little darling bless her

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