The family of a two-year-old girl hope treatment could halve the size of a fluid-filled mass on her face.
Olivia Chicchon, of Lodi, California, has a lymphatic malformation, a mass of small cysts that appear on the head or neck.
When doctors spotted it in the womb, parents Ivan and Teresa Chicchon, both 32, were offered to terminate the pregnancy.
Instead, they opted to have complicated surgery – called an EXIT procedure – to deliver Olivia.
Now, they are in talks with medics about having treatment they have described as ‘ground-breaking’.
Sclerotherapy is an standard option for patients like Olivia, but is considered better than surgery because it has less scarring and lower risk of the mass returning.
If Olivia can get it, her life could be changed before she grows up to realise she is ‘different’ from other children, her parents said.
Olivia Chicchon, two, was born with a lymphatic malformation, a mass that appears on the head or neck due to an abnormal formation of lymphatic vessels
When doctors spotted it in the womb, parents Ivan and Teresa Chicchon, both 32, were offered to terminate their pregnancy. Pictured in hospital holding Olivia with the mass on her face
Mr and Mrs Chicchon hope that Olivia will be able to have treatment they have described as ‘ground-breaking’ before she realises she is ‘different’ from other children. Pictured, as a toddler
‘But at the same time, if there is treatment out there that’s going to help her, we’d rather do it now than wait and have it affect her more in the future.
‘Just recently, we said that we’re ready to move forward with Livie getting her treatment now.
‘We met with her doctors and we haven’t arrived at a definite conclusion yet.’
A lymphatic malformation, also known as cystic hygroma, is a collection fluid-filled sacs, known as cysts, that result from a malformation in the lymphatic system – a network of vessels within the body which form part of the immune system.
The surgery the family have high hopes for is sclerotherapy, an injection that is used to treat lymphatic malformations as well as varicose veins.
Medicine is injected directly into the mass with a needle, which irritates and inflames the malformation and causes swelling which will eventually go down.
Sclerotherapy is currently considered to be the best treatment option of lymphatic malformations, as it carries lower risks than open surgery, doesn’t create scarring, and the mass has lower chances of returning.
As Olivia has grown up, Mr and Mrs Chicchon have been faced with the challenge of shielding Olivia from curious children.
Mr Chicchon said: ‘She is now aware when kids say something and make fun. She knows what’s going on.
‘So it’s becoming much more of a challenge.’
Mrs Chicchon added: ‘When we go out in public, of course people stare. Adults, children – they stare because it’s different.
‘I think it’s important to explain to other kids exactly what it is. There are kids that aggressively try and touch it and it’s like how do you react to that?’
When Mr and Mrs Chicchon received an initial diagnosis, they were offered the chance to terminate the pregnancy.
Doctors predicted Olivia would have no quality of life going forward.
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