Katie Crenshaw, the mother of a nearly seven-month-old daughter who has a large ‘birthmark’ on her face has penned a powerful essay to those who can’t see past the color on her infant’s cheek in the hopes of ending the stigma surrounding her ‘strawberry mark’.
In a post shared on her blog, Twelve and Six, Katie, from Atlanta, Georgia, explained that her daughter Charlie Kate was born with a ‘strawberry birthmark’ known as a capillary hemangioma on her face that is about two inches wide and two inches long. However, she stresses that her daughter is more than just a birthmark – and there is no reason to ‘pity’ her.
‘We don’t need to talk about it every time you look at her,’ Katie wrote. ‘We see past the color of her face. Charlie is Charlie and it’s part of who she is. It doesn’t need to be constantly commented on, critiqued, or questioned.’
Katie said that she doesn’t ‘mind educating curious minds’, but some people tend to overstep their bounds by offering their opinions on the mark or the affect it might have on Charlie in the future.
‘It’s a part of her unique beauty. It may never disappear, and guess what? It doesn’t have to,’ Katie said. ‘I would much rather chat about her latest milestone achievement, her amazing smile, or how gorgeous her eyes are.
‘She isn’t in pain or ill. She simply has an unusual quality about her appearance.’
There is no known cause or prevention for hemangiomas, which are an abnormal build-up of blood vessels in the skin or internal organs, and while they often go away on their own as the child gets older, physicians recommend that they are monitored to ensure that the nodule doesn’t interfere with vision or breathing.
Katie told Daily Mail Online that Charlie has seen specialists and is under the care of doctors to make sure her daughter’s capillary hemangioma, which has been deemed cosmetic, doesn’t cause any problems.
The mother-of-two, who also has a son named Grayson, noted in her essay that people will commonly say things like, ‘I’m praying that it goes away’ or ‘Bless, her poor little heart’, and she is constantly being asked, ‘When will that go away?’
‘I’ve even heard things as harsh as “turn her to her good side” or “Too bad, she’s so pretty otherwise”,’ she added.
Katie went on to encourage people to pray that Charlie grows up to confident and filled with self-love ‘no matter what she looks like’ instead of wishing that her birth mark will disappear.
‘Hold the pity. She’s a healthy baby girl and we are blessed,’ she explained. ‘Her hemangioma is just as insignificant to who she is as a freckle on her arm. You don’t need to mention it, and you don’t need to wish it away.’
Katie told Daily Mail Online said she doesn’t feel like she is doing Charlie an ‘injustice by not having it cosmetically removed’ because she was bullied as a child even though there was nothing visibly wrong with her.
‘I think to protect our children from bullies we should instill confidence and values in who they are, the way they were made,’ she said. ‘No one wants their child to be picked on, but children can be ruthless. They will pick on kids for their name, their brand of shoes, or the way they talk. It’s just something that may or may not happen.’
Katie said she has received dozens of supportive emails from parents of children with hemangiomas, as well as adults who had large birthmarks as children, many of which said they didn’t have a difficult time with bullies ‘because of the positive way their primary caregivers and family handed it’
Culled from UK Daily Mail
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