A young girl with a rare lip defect had her Christmas wish come true. Brianna Brewer was two weeks old when her parents noticed a bruise on her mouth. The bruise was growing each day near her lip until is started to take over the entire upper lip area.
When the parents talked to the doctor about the bruise, the doctor told the parents that there was nothing to be concerned about and that they were just worrying for nothing. As the bruise got bigger, doctors finally conceded that something was wrong. Brianna had a condition known as hemangioma. Blood vessels were growing under the skin and forming a lump on the lip.
Before Brianna was one, the growth was larger than her nose. She had to deal with the tumor on her face while eating and talking over the first three years of life. Specialists found out about Brianna and offered a way to help.
Brianna and her parents flew to Florida from Ohio so that she could have surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible. The surgery appears to be a success, and the family is waiting for the swelling to go down so that they can see Brianna smile for the first time in months.
