Warning: The following article contains graphic images.
When Dylan Little was born, he was immediately admitted into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Now, 4 years later, Dylan is still living with a rare skin condition called Giant Congenital Melanocytic Nevus (CMN). CMN occurs when nevomelanocyte cells are not evenly distributed throughout the body. According to Nevus Outreach, when the cells clump together like this, they result in moles.
Dylan’s mom, Kara Little, recalls that her sister was able to tell what was wrong with Dylan before the doctors came back with a diagnosis.
“When Dylan was born, this was a complete surprise to everyone. Even the doctors. Dylan was immediately taken to NICU because they were fearful that he had neurotic tissue and that he was going to die. I took a picture of him before they took him to NICU and immediately sent it to my sister, who was fresh out of Medical School. She was able to give me a diagnosis before they came back and told me,” Kara told Independent Journal Review.
At birth, 80% of Dylan’s body was covered in moles, and both doctors and his parents fear his moles would manifest into skin cancer. The only way to prevent this from happening was for Dylan to undergo surgery to have his moles removed. The affected skin would have to be replaced with “good skin” from other parts of his body.
But, because Dylan had more affected skin than good skin, doctors had to come up with a way to stretch his good skin as much as possible, so they used saline implants. The expanders were placed under Dylan’s good skin, and for three months, his mom filled them with saline at home until they got large enough for doctors to remove.
Then the good skin was used on other parts of his body.
Dylan, so far, has had over 26 surgeries, and as a result, over 50% of the affected areas have been removed, decreasing his chances of getting cancer. Dylan’s parents are committed to doing whatever it takes to help Dylan, although, Kara admits that sometimes people aren’t kind.
She told News.au.com that “Once in a supermarket a store manager asked us to leave because one of their customers was upset about having seen our child.” While this upset Kara, she said she will never “hide” Dylan because there is “nothing to be ashamed of.” Dylan is a happy boy, who loves baseball and is always seen wearing a big smile on his face.
Kara hopes that Dylan’s story with help kids going through something difficult to not feel so alone.
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[Featured Image Credit: Kara Little]
Doctors Use Implants To Stabilize Little Boy’s Life Threatening Skin Condition is an article from: LifeDaily