Hemangiomas Awareness

Raising awareness for those with hemangiomas by telling Luca's story.

Luca had a premature birth and within the first month, hemangiomas began to appear. A strawberry hemangioma is a clump of tiny blood vessels that forms under the skin. It causes a raised red skin growth that may be present at birth or develop during infancy. A hemangioma looks like a strawberry birthmark, but it's actually a benign (noncancerous) tumor. You may also hear the term vascular birthmark." (Cleveland Clinic) Luca's parents were told that this was fairly common in preemies. Sometimes hemangiomas can cause internal issues, but this was not the case for Luca. After many discussions and research, Luca's parents made the decision to try medications. Medications were not as effective as they hoped and Luca began being noticed by others his age. Once Luca became the age where his self-esteem was being affected, his parent's made the decision to have his hemangiomas surgically removed. Though hemangiomas are harmless, they can often be misunderstood. To a child, something that is different can be seen as scary. Luca was brave during doctor visits and his surgery. There was nothing that a popsicle and his dump truck couldn’t fix! Luca's mother states that she wants, "to make sure skin conditions are more known, understood and represented to seem less 'scary' or strange." He now has a pretty gnarly scar and gets to help raise awareness for all when asked where his scar comes from!