To think of a young child going through the pain of cancer breaks my heart. They’re so brave, but they have to fight hard fights all the time.
Still, there are stories of amazing kids who get through things that seemed impossible.
Doctors saw right away that something was wrong when Dylan Little was born nine years ago. He had strange birthmarks all over his body except for the dark red skin on his back.
Dylan was taken to the NICU very quickly. It was later found that he had a dangerous disease called Congenital Melanocytic Nevus, which left birthmarks on about 80% of his tiny body.
Kara is an air traffic manager from Atlanta, Georgia. When she saw her son, she was shocked, which was only natural. There had been no signs that something was wrong while she was pregnant. Everything went as planned with the checkups and ultrasounds.
Dylan, on the other hand, was nothing like she had imagined when she first saw him.
“When Dylan was born, he had moles all over his face, arms, and legs, and his back was completely black and bleeding.” From above his head to his bottom, the biggest one went all the way around his shoulders, belly, and backside. In 2016, she said, “There were hundreds of satellites with moles that were half the size of a dollar to the dot of a pen.”
Dylan had already been through a PET scan and an MRI to check for cancer when he was only five weeks old. He had many melanin crystals in his brain because of a rare condition that only affects one in 20,000 people.
The baby boy started having seizures around four months old because of the “spots” in his brain. Doctors told Dylan’s parents, Kara and Nikki, that he would need a lot of surgeries in his first few years.
People with congenital melanocytic nevus have a high chance of getting skin cancer. Because of this, they need to keep a close eye on their birthmarks.
A big mole covered most of Dylan’s back, and doctors wanted to remove it surgery, but it wasn’t easy. Dylan’s medical team chose to do more complicated procedures as he got older. To get enough skin for the transfer, they had to put implants in the boy’s body that looked like breast implants.
Dylan had the implants for three months, which made him gain skin. The plan was to cover the area with this extra skin after the huge mole on his back was taken off.
So far, Dylan has had a lot of surgeries. After 26 surgeries, about half of the boy’s huge mole has been taken off.
Kara, his mother, said, “We’re holding on to hope that the moles never turn on and become cancerous, but he could get cancer at any time.” When it comes to which part of the body, he has surgery every three to six months.
Even after all of his surgeries and time spent recovering, Dylan is still a happy kid, which has so far shown his doctors to be wrong.
Kara told the Telegraph, “We are trying to do what’s best for him; we want to give him the fullest, longest life we can.”
The fact that Dylan always has a smile on his face and acts like he runs the hospital is something that always amazes me. All the nurses know and love him.
Dylan is aware that he looks different from other kids. Individuals who are not acquainted with him often stop and stare when he’s in public. As soon as this happens, Dylan just says why he’s showing up. The majority of people understand. There have been times, though, when people were very cruel.
It was very upsetting when, Kara said, a shop manager asked us to leave because one of their customers was mad that they had seen our child.
But Kara is right to not hide her boy or feel bad about him.
That’s because she wasn’t scared to take him out, and she didn’t want him to be worried or feel like he had something to be ashamed of.
Dylan’s folks made a Facebook page for him so that people can follow his progress. Kara often lets us know how her family is doing. She is also doing a lot to get people to know about Dylan’s illness.
At this point, Kara said in 2016, “We don’t know what his future holds; he could have days, weeks, years, or decades. That’s why we are doing everything we can to keep him with us.”
Dylan has had 33 surgeries so far, but he still has a good outlook on life. He likes to go fishing, play sports, and spend time with his family and friends.
His health is better than ever and he is living his life to the fullest at age nine. But Dylan still has a few spots that need to be carefully watched to make sure they don’t get better.
Dylan still needs to go to the hospital a lot, which is sad. But everything up to this point had gone as planned. Even though he has had failures, Dylan has always come back stronger. Take a look at what a cute kid you really are now.
It must make your parents very proud to be able to share this life with you and watch you grow into a man. I’d be very thankful if I had even half of your abilities. Dylan, may God bless you for being brave! Never give up!
Unfortunately, life is not fair. Dylan Little, who is nine years old, is going through a hard time that no one should ever have to go through. Nobody wants to see their child in pain, and they’ll do anything to make them happy again. Honestly, we hope the rest of his trip goes smoothly.