There was nothing out of the ordinary about Steph Conroy’s pregnancy or delivery. When her daughter Ella was born, the doctor at Lancaster General Health pointed out to Steph and her husband, Chris, that their baby had a hemangioma on her face.
“A hemangioma is basically just a birthmark. The one that she had was a fast moving hemangioma. It had girth and was starting to close her eyes. It was a big cause for concern,” Chris said.
Ella's Expert Team
LG Health has an affiliation with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which allowed Ella’s doctor to quickly connect her family with doctors at Children’s Hospital, where Ella spent a week in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for extensive testing.
“The doctor that we had been working with started Ella on a medication that we put in her formula. We started noticing improvement within a month,” Steph recalled.
When Ella was about 14 months old, she had her first laser treatment and the mark started fading away. Her parents saw that the hemangioma was receding and that her eyesight was fine.
Chris was impressed by the communication between all the doctors. “It made it all easier for us and took a lot of worry from everything. There were no countless telephone calls to the doctor. Everything was just seamless,” he said.
Steph added, “There were no hurdles. One time there was a problem when our insurance didn't want to pay for one of the laser treatments, and our physician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said, 'No, no, no, no. I'm taking care of this.' And it was taken care of. I didn't even have to make a call to my insurance company. It was just amazing.”
A Joyful Life
Both parents are relieved to see their daughter enjoying life with confidence and joy, and they are appreciative of the care provided by doctors in Lancaster and Philadelphia.
“The fact that she's never even noticed it about herself has relieved a huge worry that I had about what she was going to face in her life,” said Steph.
“She's my one and only daughter, and I would do anything for her. You guys worked seamlessly together and gave me my daughter. Thank you,” added Chris.