08 Jun Meet Sloan McGillis
When Sloan McGillis’ picture was sent to the Hannah Storm Foundation’s offices for surgical consideration, we didn’t see, at first, the very large vascular tumor that was covering a good portion of her tiny face; we instantly saw her big, bright eyes and could immediately tell there was something very special about her. We instantly knew she would be our next patient.
Sloan’s story is very similar to so many other children who are born with vascular anomalies whereby parents are worried when their precious new child is born with this condition. They quickly seek the best treatment and for some they find the options are unaffordable and most insurance plans won’t cover the procedures. For others, doctors say the birthmark will fade or simply go away. For Sloan’s parents, they simply wouldn’t take no for an answer and were led to Dr. Milton Waner, the world’s foremost expert in vascular anomalies at New York City’s Lenox Hill Hospital. Knowing that the treatment options for Sloan would become a huge financial burden for the McGillis’, Dr. Waner turned to the Hannah Storm Foundation for help.
The Hannah Storm Foundation helps raise awareness and fund surgeries for children from around the world who suffer from debilitating and disfiguring vascular birthmarks. On an ongoing basis the foundation holds fundraising events and one of our most popular events is the Celebrity Waiter Night where Hannah Storm gathers her celebrity pals from the world of sports, media and entertainment to “serve” dinner to guests. As part of the live auction there is always a “Fund-a-Need” section where guests are able to donate money to directly fund surgeries for patients. Sloan is one of the many patients who the monies benefitted this past year.
Sloan and her mother, Jenny, traveled to New York City in January 2016 to receive her first surgery and came back in May for follow-up procedures.
Hannah Storm, Sloan and Jenny McGillis at American Girl
We caught up with Sloan and her mother, Jenny after her second round of surgeries at the American Girl Doll store on Fifth Avenue. Sloan enjoyed a wonderful day including meeting Hannah and picking out her very own doll. We sat down with Sloan and her mother, Jenny to talk about their journey thus far.
“No words can ever express how grateful we are for the Hannah Storm Foundation. When Sloan was born we didn’t ever know how we were going to make her okay and thanks to Dr. Waner and the Hannah Storm Foundation we now know she is going to be perfect.”
Sloan likely has more surgeries ahead of her but so far all is going well. We look forward to sharing her journey here so please check back for more updates.
To learn more about Sloan’s condition and journey you can visit her Facebook page and to learn more about vascular birthmarks and how you can get involved please visit the Hannah Storm Foundation website.