AT first, doctors dismissed the growing mark on Natalie Brooks’ newborn baby Brontë’s ear as nothing more than a birthmark.

What began in November as a flat, pale blemish about an inch wide soon started to protrude, eventually pushing the little girl’s ear out by two to three inches and covering much of her tiny face.

The mum-of-three said she “knew something was wrong” as her daughter cried non-stop and refused to feed, but was reassured by doctors it was nothing to worry about.

“We would never have expected it to turn out like this,” the 29-year-old from Accrington, Lancashire, said.

“It literally just looked like a little bruise next to her ear.”

Brontë, now eight months old, was eventually diagnosed with kaposiform hemangioendothelioma (KHE) – a rare and serious vascular tumour.

The baby girl spent six weeks in hospital and has since developed Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon (KMP), a serious condition that affects her blood’s ability to clot.

“This tumour is benign, it’s not cancerous, but she still might need chemotherapy,” Natalie added.

“It can be very serious if it’s not managed.”

She first noticed the blemish when Brontë was just two weeks old.

“From about two weeks of age it appeared and it was just a little bruise and as the weeks went on, we noticed that it never actually went,” she said.

“It was flat and very light in colour. Slowly over the months it started to get slightly bigger.

“We went to the doctors and they just confirmed it was a birthmark so we came away and carried on.”

But by January, the lump was darker, warmer, and growing fast.

“It started to get darker and started to protrude out and get quite big,” said Natalie.

“Since the day she was born she was hysterical nearly every day. There was nothing we could do to calm her down.

“I know every baby cries but this was just relentless. She wouldn’t stop crying for about three or four hours non-stop.

“She’d refuse her feed and never finish a full bottle. She was awake every hour through the night. She was very restless and I never got a break.

“I knew something wasn’t right but I didn’t know what.”

After pushing for tests, Natalie was told Brontë would need an MRI in five weeks.

By May, the mark was growing so quickly that Natalie took Brontë to hospital herself.

There, an MRI was done, and the tumour was finally diagnosed.

“My family were saying I couldn’t leave it that long as it was getting so aggressive,” she said.

“It was very warm to touch. It was very purple and looked inflamed. It was swollen and it was protruding and pushing her ear out.

“It was behind her ear in a full circle.”

Doctors told her the tumour would have been “extremely painful”.

“[The diagnosis] was shocking. It’s flipped our world upside down to be honest. It’s crazy because it’s super rare.

“You never think becoming a parent of having this in your lifetime.

“You never imagine being in the hospital for a long time and having a poorly baby.”

On medication for life
Brontë was discharged after six weeks, but just ten days later Natalie spotted it growing again.

Tests confirmed her daughter now had KMP and her medication wasn’t working.

“They can reverse that with medications but the tumour that she has gives her body very low platelet levels so her blood actually can’t clot,” Natalie explained.

“It can now because she’s had transfusions… but we were also informed that this tumour will never actually go.

“It’s just managed by medication – and they can’t tell us how long she will be on it for, it could potentially be for life.”

Source: The Sun