WHEN strangers stop and stare at her son, Vicki Gatenby knows what’s coming.
The 48-year-old is regularly forced to deny her little boy has been punched in the face.
Rather, she explains Oliver has a rare birthmark that looks like a bruise spreading from his top lip up to his nose.
In his 10 years, Vicki has had to deal with hundreds of strangers, all looking concerned and wanting to know what’s wrong with him.
The veterinary nurse told The Sun Online: “I’ve even had one woman burst into tears in a supermarket when I explained to her that Oliver had a birthmark that he was born with.
“And Oliver does get a few questions from children asking him what he has done to his face.
“But he doesn’t let it bother him too much. He’s such a brave lad.
“And we are so proud of him too.”
Oliver, now ten, was born with the birthmark, known as a venous malformation where the veins don’t form correctly under the skin.
I’ve even had one woman burst into tears in a supermarket when I explained to her that Oliver had a birthmark that he was born with
Vicki Gatenby
To begin with, it looked like a little mark on his forehead.
Vicki recalled: “We didn’t really notice it at first.
“When he was born his skin was quite purple and he had a bald patch on the back of his head which we were more worried about.
“We did notice this tiny mark on his forehead, which just looked like a traditional ‘stork’ mark.
“But we didn’t give it much thought or worry.”
Then as the weeks went by, it started to look like a bruise had formed on his nose.
The mark started to grow and get more and more prominent as time went on.
“As he grew into a toddler, people thought he had walked into something or had fallen onto his face,” said Vicki.
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“From the beginning we just called it Oliver’s birthmark.
“He is more aware of it now than he was when he was younger.
“But we just try and focus on other things that he’s good at, like playing football.
“His friends don’t even notice the birthmark.
“Sometimes he does get upset at strangers comments, but mostly he just gets on with his life.”
Oliver first started treatment for his birthmark when he was 18 months old.
A cancer drug was injected directly into the birthmark.
He had six courses initially and it managed to significantly reduce the bulging on his top lip.
Vicki said: “We were really pleased with the outcome of that treatment, it really worked for the bulge on his top of his mouth and reduced it almost completely.”
Oliver then went onto have another form of treatment where alcohol was injected into the veins to try and close the veins down.
WHAT ARE VENOUS MALFORMATIONS?
Venous malformations are abnormalities that affect the blood vessels.
Normally, the walls of a blood vessel are made up of smooth muscle cells.
This holds the vessel in shape, and allows it to enlarge and slow the pressure of blood flowing through it.
When a person has a venous malformation the smooth muscle layer is abnormal.
The abnormality means the vessel doesn’t hold its shape and can’t slow down blood flow.
What do they look like?
Venous malformations look like soft, lumpy blue marks on the skin.
They will be there from birth, but parents may only begin to notice them as their kid grows.
Lots of things can affect how visible they are.
A rush of blood to the area, such as when a baby cries, for example, can make them more prominent.
Temperature changes and if a child puts on weight can also affect it.
How common are they?
The condition is relatively common, but they can be confused for other vascular marks.
At Great Ormond Street Hospital, specialists tend to see the most severe cases.
The hospital has treated more than 350 kids with venous malformation in the last 20 years.
Source: Great Ormond Street Hospital
That didn’t work, and in December he started again the treatment at the James Cook Hospital in Middlesborough where the cancer drug is injected into the veins.
Vicki said: “He’s just started that treatment again at the end of last year, so we are hoping that it will make a difference to him.
“It does look a lot better now than when he was younger.
“I once had a Chinese man come up to me in the street and ask if I had done any decorating whilst I was pregnant.
“He believed that if a woman paints during pregnancy then it can cause abnormalities.
“I don’t listen to what people say though, we just concentrate on Oliver and him enjoying life.
“He really lives his life to the full.
“He belongs to a cycling club and he goes there once a week and he’s a really keen cyclist now.
“And he loves playing cricket and football. He’s such a sporty lad.”
Oliver recently rode the 100km bike ride with his dad Andy and completed it in six hours.
The money he raised will go towards an ultrasound machine for the consultant Tobian Muir at James Cook University Hospital where he receives his treatment.
Vicki said: “We were so proud of him for taking on the bike ride challenge.
“He said he would have been much quicker too, if his dad hadn’t held him up.”
For more information about birthmarks visit the Birthmark Support Group.
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