The little girl who can finally smile again!? Life-changing 外科 for Zosia, two, who was 否定するd NHS 治療 for birthmark that 脅すd to leave her blind

By Jenny Johnston for the Daily Mail
Updated: 01:52 BST, 11 April 2011

No parent looks 今後 to their child’s first general anaesthetic, but there is a palpable sense of 救済 mixed with the 恐れる as little Zosia Knight 長，率いるs 負かす／撃墜する the hospital 回廊（地帯） for hers.

‘I just thank God it’s finally happening,’ says her mother Carole as the little plastic car (a novel and fitting 代案／選択肢 to the hospital trolley), trundles through the doors and two-year-old Zosia waves brightly.

‘What’s the 代案／選択肢 if she doesn’t have this 手続き?’ she asks, as the doors の近くに. ‘It’s a lifetime of disfigurement, for sure. Possible 差別 and いじめ（る）ing? Almost certainly. And the 危険 of her going blind in one 注目する，もくろむ on 最高の，を越す of that.’

Life-changing: Carole Knight and her two-year-old daughter Zosia who is having レーザー 外科 to 除去する a birthmark and save her sight

The care and 専門的知識 afforded the Knight family today are t he best the NHS can 申し込む／申し出. Zosia is having a large birthmark ― one that snakes around her 注目する，もくろむ, and covers some of the lid ― 除去するd.

The nurses are 安心させるing and the 顧問 根気よく explains 正確に／まさに what to 推定する／予想する. Even Zosia’s Mickey Mouse toy gets a 包帯. The hospital cleaner takes time for a 肉親，親類d word. It all makes you proud to be British. Except for one rather 決定的な fact.

This 決定的な, life-changing and 潜在的に sight-saving 操作／手術 is not 存在 paid for by the NHS. 基金ing for it was 供給するd by the Daily Mail. We stepped in when we discovered that ― にもかかわらず the fact that almost every other NHS 信用 in the country 申し込む／申し出s the 手続き routinely ― West Sussex NHS 信用 was 辞退するing to help Zosia.

Every healthcare professional 伴う／関わるd was aghast to discover that a little girl like Zosia ― her 指名する means ‘知恵’ ― （機の）カム その上の 負かす／撃墜する the つつく／ペックing order than those needing gastric 禁止（する）d or boob 職業s.

‘It’s despicable,’ says Carole. ‘This is the NHS 信用 that paid for someone I know to have a gastric 禁止（する）d. Can someone tell me why that is more necessary than a 治療 that can give my daughter some hope of a normal life?

‘Worse, I know a woman who had a breast augmentation paid for by West Sussex NHS 信用. She said the size of her breasts made her self-conscious and stopped her socialising. It is sheer lunacy to say that she needs 治療 more than my daughter.

‘I just don’t understand how these people can sit 一連の会議、交渉／完成する a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and make these sorts of 決定／判定勝ち（する）s. ‘They have overruled three 顧問s who say Zosia needs this. How dare they, when they 港／避難所’t even met her.’

An hour watching Zosia play in the pre-外科 waiting room is more than enough to 確認する that she is a 有望な and observant little girl. Perhaps too observant for her mother’s liking. She started to notice the pinky-purple birthmark on her 直面する as soon as she could talk, and asked what it was.

Smile: West Sussex NHS 信用 辞退するd to 支払う／賃金 for Zosia's 治療 - so the Daily Mail stepped in

At first, she was 満足させるd with her mother’s explanation that it was a ‘special 示す’, something to be proud of.

Then, as the birthmark spread and darkened, other children started to point, and ask questions.

‘It got really awful during the last big snows,’ Carole explains. ‘Zosia’s birthmark changes colour depending on the 気温. If she is warm, it is やめる light. When she’s 冷淡な, and her 血 急ぐs to the surface of her 肌, the birthmark goes a really dark purple. It looks terrible.

‘When she was out playing in the snow, other kids would come up to her and say: “Uuuughhh, what’s that on your 直面する”.

‘She started to cover that 味方する of her 直面する with her 手渡す, which broke my heart. She’s already said: “Mummy, take it away,” and she’s only two. It’s too young for all this to be starting.’

Any parent who has a child with a facial disfigurement knows that ‘all this’ is sadly 必然的な. Such are the difficulties 遭遇（する）d by children with birthmarks like the port-ワイン stain Zosia has that レーザー 治療, paid for by the NHS, is now 申し込む／申し出d pretty routinely.

専門家s in the field advise starting 治療 as 早期に as possible, so that by the time the child begins school ― where teasing and いじめ（る）ing is going to be harder to 避ける ― optimum fading will have been 達成するd.

Carole, herself a paediatric nurse, was 井戸／弁護士席 aware of this, so sought 医療の advi ce in May last year. Her 顧問 確認するd that Zosia would be an ideal 候補者. Indeed, in her 事例／患者, the 除去 手続き would be 必須の because her birthmark snakes 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 注目する，もくろむ and 現実に covers some of the eyelid.

Over time, port-ワイン stains grow with the child and can become raised and bumpy. In some 事例／患者s, the 注目する，もくろむ can be 影響する／感情d, and blindness can be a 危険.

If she did not have 治療, Zosia’s eyesight would have to be 監視するd more carefully than most.

But to the surprise, and horror, of every healthcare professional 伴う／関わるd, the Knight’s 地元の NHS 信用, West Sussex, 辞退するd to 基金 the £15,000 治療. The family, who live in Maidenblower, Crawley, discovered too late that they （機の）カム under the 裁判権 of one of only two healthcare 信用s in the country which do not routinely 申し込む／申し出 レーザー 治療 for children with facial birthmarks.

Their doctors 控訴，上告d, but their 控訴，上告 was 拒絶するd. The family’s 地元の MP, appalled by the 決定／判定勝ち（する）, 介入するd, but again was overruled.

Zosia’s story was 最高潮の場面d last month in the Daily Mail, and our readers were so 乱暴／暴力を加えるd that such a young child could become a 犠牲者 of an 不公平な postcode 宝くじ that this paper 申し込む／申し出d to 支払う／賃金 for the 治療, which is why we are here with Carole and Zosia today, at the Queen Mary Hospital for Children in Carshalton.

The past few weeks have been emotional. On the day we phoned to tell Ca 役割 that the 法案 for Zosia’s 治療 would be met, albeit not by the 団体／死体 that should be assuming 責任／義務, she burst into 涙／ほころびs.

‘We’d been worried sick about what was going to happen. We’d already made the 任命 with the bank about remortgaging the house,’ she 明らかにする／漏らすs.

‘The worry was stomach-churning. My husband Craig is a police officer. I’m a nurse. We have two other children. We just don’t have a spare £15,000 lying 一連の会議、交渉／完成する.

‘We’d thought about moving ― were we in the next 郡 over, there would not be an 問題／発行する about 基金ing ― but this is not the best 気候 to be thinking about that.

‘I’d barely slept since it had all happened. Every night I’d 嘘（をつく） awake thinking of what to do for the best, and every morning I’d get up and look at Zosia’s little 直面する, and want to cry.’

She’s been 床に打ち倒すd by the support 申し込む／申し出d by 完全にする strangers. Today, Zosia carries a Mickey Mouse sent in the 地位，任命する. In her 捕らえる、獲得する, Carole also has an envelope, which arrived at her home with no 演説（する）／住所, only her home town. It 含む／封じ込めるs £30.

Zosia is not the only child 存在 扱う／治療するd today, which brings home how 不公平な her 状況／情勢 is. 顧問 dermatologist Dr Chris Harland is 井戸／弁護士席 used to carrying out 類似の 手続きs on children Zosia’s age and younger. Her 事例／患者 is unusual only in that it is not the NHS that is 地盤 the 法案 ― a first, in his experience.

‘When you have a port-ワイン stain on the 直面する of a child, you 推定する／予想する 基金ing,’ he says, 簡単に, unwilling to 直接／まっすぐに criticise the 信用 伴う／関わるd, but also 明確に baffled as to why Zosia should be 否定するd what every other child who passes through his clinic has received.

肯定的な 未来: Zosia may now be able to enjoy life after she started her 治療 to 除去する a birthmark that 脅すd her sight

Some parents never 捜し出す 治療, or decide against it, かもしれない because the powerful レーザーs 伴う／関わるd can only be used on children under general anaesthetic, which can be risky.

Such is their prerogative, says Carole.

‘My 問題／発行する is that we 港／避難所’t had the choice. A choice that is readily 利用できる to almost every child with a facial birthmark in the country isn’t 利用できる to Zosia. How can that かもしれない be fair? How could I explain that to my child if she went blind at some point?’

Zosia is thankfully oblivious to the 嵐／襲撃する her 事例／患者 has 原因（となる）d. Even as she 長，率いるs to theatre, her MP, Henry Smith, i s 辞退するing to let the 事柄 go, and her parents are taking 合法的な advice on whether their Health 信用 can be taken to 法廷，裁判所.

Carole tells the family’s story as she waits for Zosia to come out of theatre, and her 怒り／怒る is laid 明らかにする.

Zosia was born in October 2008, a much 手配中の，お尋ね者 sister for the couple’s two sons, Morgan, now ten and Khai, seven.

When she was about four months old a little red 示す appeared beneath her 権利 注目する，もくろむ. At first Carole thought it was a bruise, but over the next few months it started to spread and darken. It became （疑いを）晴らす that it was a port-ワイン stain.

The couple were understandably upset ― ‘No parents want their child to have anything like this to を取り引きする’,’ says Carole. ‘I’ve had all sorts of 乱用,’ she 収容する／認めるs. ‘One woman （機の）カム up to me and had a real go at me for letting Zosia get sunburned. She said: “Have you never heard of sunscreen? You are a 不名誉.” I was so flabbergasted and upset that I didn’t even reply.

‘Other people have made 発言／述べるs about her 存在 bruised, 説: “She’s been in the wars.” It is upsetting, no 疑問 about it. And if I get upset, what must it be like as a child. Children can be much more cruel than adults.’

When Zosia did start to show the first 調印するs of 存在 upset, the family sought help.
‘The first 顧問 said it would be best to get it sorted sooner ― 特に with the 可能性のある problems with the 注目する，もくろむ. The second one agreed. Everyone was gobsmacked when the 信用 （機の）カム 支援する and said no.

‘The 公式の／役人 言い回し was that they “considered it a cosmetic 手続き”. I couldn’t believe that. How is the 危険 of her sight 存在 影響する／感情d cosmetic? And there is nothing cosmetic about a child’s life 存在 blighted because she is afraid to show her 直面する.?

‘Believe me, I know what I am talking about. In my 職業, I have dealt with children who have facial disfigurement, and some of them have never come to 条件 with it. I’ve dealt with 十代の少年少女s who have tried to commit 自殺 because of the way they look.

‘いつかs, it isn’t possible to change that through 外科. But when it is .?.?. my God, how can they not see this?’

Two separate 控訴，上告s have now been turned 負かす／撃墜する by the 信用, which does not appear willing to 妥協.

‘A 実業家 in Crawley 申し込む／申し出d to 支払う／賃金 for half the 治療 if the 信用 met the cost of the other half. They turned him 負かす／撃墜する,’ says Carole. ‘I find that despicable.’

The レーザー 治療 is 現実に やめる straightforward. Dr Harland uses the pulsed dye レーザー ― the 産業 基準 for the 治療 of port-ワイン stain in children ― which 適用するs 激しい bursts of light that selectively destroy the 血 大型船s making up the birthmark. A 冷静な／正味のing liquid is sprayed すぐに before each レーザー pulse, to 減ずる 味方する-影響s.?

Half an hour later, Zosia is 支援する on the 回復 区. Dark purple bruising is すぐに obvious. Over the next few days, this will darken yet more before fading. In six to eight weeks, doctors will be able to tell how 井戸／弁護士席 she is 答える／応じるing to 治療, and how many 開会／開廷／会期s will be needed.

‘We are told that she may need six or more 治療s, with a few months’ gap between each one,’ says Carole.

It is a 大規模な 請け負うing for any family. Carole weeps as she sees her little girl for the first time after the 手続き.

‘No parent would put a child through this if they didn’t think it was 絶対 for the best,’ she says. ‘I am 許可／制裁ing 12 general anaesthetics for my daughter, and there is 危険 there.

‘The 代案／選択肢 is to 非難する my bubbly 確信して little girl to a life of かもしれない hiding in the 影をつくる／尾行するs.’

She’s aware that some might say she should rejoice in Zosia’s difference.

‘Would you? When 治療 is so 効果的な? There is an argument that Zosia might be a happy child regardless. I don’t believe that. Any adult I have talked to with a birthmark tells me “have the 治療 young”.

‘Her swimming teacher has a birthmark on her 直面する. She 苦しむd terribly when she was a child. She told me she hated her schooldays and looks 支援する on them as a very dark period of her life. She 申し込む／申し出d to 持つ／拘留する a fundraising event, so that we could do this. That 納得させるd me we are doing the 権利 thing.’

最終的に, though, what 納得させるd the Knights to fight, and what would have led them to take out that second mortgage, was the thought that one day Zosia would 持つ／拘留する them to account.

‘Say she was いじめ（る）d. Say she withdrew into herself. Say her whole life was 廃虚d because we’d chucked in the towel when those faceless bureaucrats said “No”.

‘They might have been to 非難する, but we would ne ver have been able to 許す ourselves either.

‘Thanks to the Daily Mail we’ll now be able to sleep at night. How the bureaucrats can is beyond me.’