Parents always try their best to protect their children, and these parents did something special for their daughter. Little Vienna Brookshaw was born to her mom, Celine Casey, in April 2021 in the United Kingdom. When Casey first saw Vienna, she noticed a birthmark on her forehead, between her eyebrows.
The birthmark, called congenital melanocytic nevus (CMN), didn’t affect Vienna’s health, but her mom was worried it might bother her emotionally as she grew up. CMN is a condition where a baby is born with a group of harmless pigment cells, and they could have grown as Vienna got older.
The condition Vienna has is rare, and nobody could predict how much the birthmark would grow as she got older. Her mom, Casey, didn’t want Vienna to go through any challenges because of it as she grew up.
Right away, Casey asked the doctors if there was anything they could do about the birthmark. She was worried that if they didn’t remove it, Vienna might be upset with her parents in the future.
Casey, the caring mom, mentioned, “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.”
The reason Casey wanted to remove Vienna’s birthmark was that when Vienna was a baby, people would stare at her. Casey noticed that others treated her baby differently from other babies. This made her even more determined to get the birthmark removed.
The NHS (National Health Service) said no to the surgery because they usually say no to surgeries that are not necessary for a person’s physical health. They thought the surgery was cosmetic, not essential.
So, Casey started a fundraising campaign to gather money for the surgery from other sources. In just 24 hours, generous people donated $52,000. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough because hospital costs had gone up a lot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The young parents needed $27,000 more for the surgery.
They asked for help on GoFundMe again to cover the extra costs for their daughter’s surgery to remove the birthmark.
The concerned mom explained, “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, Vienna is two years old, and her birthmark has been completely removed. The only sign left is a small scar on her forehead. Casey, her mom, regularly updates on her daughter’s healing process and often comments on how ‘gorgeous’ her baby girl is.
Even after they took away the birthmark, the parents went to London to let the surgeon check how well the small scar on Vienna’s forehead had healed. They wanted to make sure she didn’t need more surgeries or treatments after the three she already had. But right now, she’s a healthy two-year-old and doesn’t need any more medical care!
We’re sending lots of good wishes to little Vienna. We hope she stays healthy always! Feel free to share this with others so they can know her story too!