Brave Toddler Colby Has Sight-Saving Surgery On Tumour

Seventeen-month-old Colby Ramos-Francis, was born with a small, heart-shaped growth over his eyelid but it quickly developed into a large benign tumour that continued to expand.

His young parents say NHS doctors were unable to treat the growth or offer surgery, leaving them no option but to beg for help abroad.

Colby has now had the tumour removed free-of-charge thanks to the US-based Little Baby Face Foundation (LBFF). 

Mum Aimee Ramos-Price, 18, said: "Seeing Colby come out without the birthmark is the best thing ever. It makes me incredibly happy. 

"If it hadn't been removed properly it could have resulted in him losing his eyesight. It was so emotional seeing him trying to touch it and realising it was not there anymore.

"It is so nice not to have these worries anymore and he can just grow up and be happy."

Father Jamie Francis, 23, was also delighted with the outcome but disappointed they'd had to fly across the Atlantic to get the treatment they desperately needed.

He said: "When someone like Josie Cunningham can have free plastic surgery on the NHS and Colby can't, it's just out of order.

"There is a huge waiting list for people like Colby but she can just come along, snap her fingers and gets it. It's heartbreaking."

Colby was born with a condition known as hemangioma, a self-involuting tumour, swelling or growth of the endothelial cells that line blood vessels.

They are usually benign but can cause severe pain and can bleed or weep easily if disturbed.

Aimee, who endured a 46-hour labour, said she noticed something different straight after the birth.

She said: "He had a small, pink birthmark on the side of his eye and it was in the same shape as a love-heart. 

"I wasn't really that concerned about it because a lot of children are born with them. 

"After we got home and we'd settled in with Colby we went for a six-week check up. By that time his birthmark had ballooned and it was really bulbous and it wasn't really a nice sight.

"It should have shrunk by the age of one but it hadn't made any progress."

She said doctors in Britain used a range of topical medications and pills - including propranolol - to try and reduce the swelling, but to no avail.

Aimee added: "In England they seemed to be picking random numbers hoping it would make a difference, hoping it would shrink it, but it didn't make a difference. They then offered steroids but I didn't think it would be right giving a baby steroids, I was against it. 

"We didn't really have much of an option except the wait-and-see approach, which we knew deep down really wasn't the best thing for Colby. 

"The lady we were seeing eventually said we could possibly see a plastic surgeon - but that it would take years for him to be seen.

"It was a shock we would have to wait that long for surgery. It was heartbreaking."

On top of medical worries Colby was banned from several daycare centres because of the risk of his growth weeping, leaving Aimee unable to seek work while she studies English at the Open University. 

They say they have also been the victims of abuse and slurs.

Jamie, who works in a hardware store, said: "We had very nasty comments about Colby and very nasty comments about ourselves. People have even asked if we are beating him. 

"Others said 'why don't you get that disgusting thing removed from his face?' It was difficult and it has been very hurtful at times. We just wanted Colby to have the best." 

Desperate and frustrated with the lack of options in the UK, they turned to the New York-based Little Baby Face Foundation (LBFF), contacting them by Facebook.

 The charity specialises in treating children born with severe birthmarks and facial deformities.

On February 5 a team led by paediatric facial plastic surgeon Dr Milton Waner went ahead with a three-hour operation to cut the tumour away at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital.

The operation, consultation fees, flights and accommodation would have set the couple back at least £10,000 without the help of the foundation. 

But with the level of expertise on offer, including other specialists, nurses and assistance, the figure would be 'much, much higher', the couple say.

Aimee, who lives with her partner in Corsham, Wiltshire, met the LBFF after posting a message to them on Facebook and hoping for the best.

She said: "Asking strangers for help can be amazing. We knew no-one in New York before this but they have done so much for us and Colby. We can't thank them enough."

Colby is just one many children to be helped by the LBFF since its founding by Dr Thomas Romo III in 2002.

Dr Romo said: "Treating children with facial birth deformities is the most gratifying surgery I can perform. 

"The Little Baby Face Foundation transforms not only the face of a child, but their entire life."

The family's claims they would have had to wait many years for plastic surgery have been denied by by Deborah Lee, deputy chief executive of University Hospital Bristol, where Colby received treatment.

She said: “The Trust does not recognise the parents’ recollection of the information they were given. General advice for this condition in that UK practice is to treat conservatively in the initial stages in the hope that surgery would not be necessary, but even if a decision to proceed to surgery was reached, this would still be during the childhood years.

"Haemangiomas are not routinely surgically removed in the UK. The standard treatment for the condition is propranolol, to which most haemangiomas respond well. 

"In the event they do not, patients would be referred to a dermatologist. Any patient accepted for treatment is managed in accordance with national waiting-time standards, which aim to treat 90 per cent of patients within 18 weeks.

“We hope Colby’s procedure in the USA was successful, and we wish him the very best for the future.”

Colby will now be monitored remotely from New York with the family sending photographs back to the hospital every week. Doctors have not ruled out a second operation in the near future to correct any abnormalities.