Mum asks for help as baby born with rare birthmark

MACEY-MAI SUFFERS WITH BLEEDING SORES DUE TO HER CONDITION

- By KATIE TIMMS and ABIGAIL NEEP

A PLYMOUTH mum whose baby was born with an ultra-rare birthmark has asked for help as the condition leaves little Macey-Mai with uncomfortable bleeding sores.

Katelyn Clarke, 22, gave birth to Macey-Mai on May 7 this year. The little one was born with a Giant Congenital Melanocytic Nevus (CGMN) covering her entire back from her bum up to her neck, around her sides, belly and on the head, legs and arms.

CGMN is a type of birthmark that is present at birth or appears shortly after and is larger than 20cm. It can vary in colour from tan to black, and the surface can be flat, raised, rough or bumpy. The condition is extremely rare and only seen in around 1 in 20,000 newborns.

Katelyn says that Macey-Mai’s birth mark was the first thing she saw of her baby, after her birth she spent six days in the NICU due to being on antibiotics to prevent infections in her open wounds in Derriford Hospital.

“When Macey-Mai was born she wasn’t even placed on my chest, she was taken right away from me and spent some time on oxygen in the NICU,” Katelyn said.

“The first thing we saw when she came out was just her back and it at first just looked black. Once she was cleaned up there was a lot of the areas of her birth mark bleeding,” she adds.