Sugar Packet



Brody Tanner
1 year



On September 7, a year ago my sweet little Brody entered our lives. He came exactly three weeks early and has been the sweetest little boy since that very day. When we found out I was pregnant with him we were surprised but so thrilled. My husband wrote a song before he met me and it’s my favorite one. It’s called “Sugar Packet”. Some of the lyrics are “My sugar packet leaves my situation sweet. I’ll take two sprinkles please, relieves my misery”. Brody is my little sugar packet. He makes my life so much sweeter. When I’m having a bad day I snuggle up next to him and kiss his extra long eyelashes. It’s like two shakes of sweetness sprinkled on my day. Shortly after he was born a little red mark appeared near his right eyebrow. It grew quickly and we discovered it was a hemangioma.



2 weeks

He also had a larger one on his ankle. It’s a birthmark, but it doesn’t stay around forever. Because of its position and how rapidly it was growing, we were sent to a plastic surgeon and pediatric oncologist. A hemangioma is a tumor consistent of a cluster of blood vessels, most of the time raised up off the skin. It started to grow toward his eye so he had an MRI to rule out growth on the brain and behind the eye. Thankfully it was all superficial and he was able to have two laser surgeries. After the first surgery his ankle was back to normal. 

2 months



The one on his eye is starting to change color which means it is starting to regress. As his parents, we don’t even see it anymore. It is part of who he is. We will definitely be glad when it is gone but mostly because of the comments and looks he receives. He doesn’t notice them now and certainly doesn’t care, but if it is still there when he starts to school he probably will. It doesn’t bother me when people ask questions or stare at him for a bit. We expect that, especially with children, but there have been some adults who are either uneducated or just plain rude.


7 months

 One of my dad’s best friends took his first look at Brody asked what it was then said “well, it’s ugly…but at least it goes away!” I didn’t even know what to say. I was shocked that he would say that about my precious little baby. How could he see Brody’s beautiful smile and big brown eyes complimented by his magnificent eyelashes if he couldn’t even see past the mark on his face? One boy who was about 8 or 9 came up and said very loudly “Ooooh! What is that? It’s nasty!”. 

10 months

It makes me wonder if others only see that as well, but then I remember that God doesn’t make mistakes. He created my child perfectly for us. He created Brody exactly the way he intended, hemangioma and all. And we praise God for doing such a wonderful job!