💛🕊️ She’s Only 2, Has Endured 14 Procedures—and Still Finds a Reason to Smile

Look at that smile.

Two-year-old Myla has already endured a medical journey that has taken her family from Canada all the way to Italy in search of treatment.

Her mother, Samantha, says Myla was born with a rare genetic condition called CM-AVM and an extremely complex, high-flow vascular malformation affecting the left side of her face and head.

As Myla has grown, so has the malformation.

According to her family, it has caused daily bleeding and severe swelling while affecting her vision, hearing and breathing. It has also damaged her teeth and jaw, affected her ability to walk and placed additional strain on her heart.

And she has faced all of this before her third birthday. 💔

For Samantha and her family, finding the right treatment became a journey of determination.

Specialists in Canada, Samantha says, believed that intervention carried an extremely serious risk of catastrophic bleeding. Faced with those concerns, the family could have stopped searching.

Instead, Samantha kept looking.

Through the Vascular Birthmarks Foundation, the family eventually connected with Professor Giacomo Colletti in Italy and learned about a treatment known as Modified Electrosclerotherapy, or MEST.

For the family, it offered something they desperately needed: hope.

Myla received her first treatment in March, and Samantha says they finally began seeing progress.

Then, this summer, the family returned to Italy for major surgery.

What followed was another incredibly difficult chapter.

According to Samantha, during the hospitalization, Myla endured the major surgery and 13 additional procedures because of serious complications.

That means a two-year-old who was already facing an extraordinarily complex medical condition had to endure procedure after procedure while separated from the comfort of her normal home life.

And somehow, she continues to smile. 🥹💛

“She wakes up from anesthesia after her procedures and still finds a reason to smile,” Samantha said.

That smile has become part of what makes Myla so remarkable.

She loves the color yellow. 💛
She loves her Grinch stuffed animal. 💚
She loves books and bubbles. 📚🫧
And she loves making people laugh.

Behind that joyful personality, however, is a little girl who still needs ongoing medical care.

Samantha says Myla will require additional treatments as she grows. The family also says its application for out-of-country healthcare funding was denied, leaving them dependent on their own resources and help from others to continue traveling to Italy for the care they believe Myla needs.

It is an enormous burden for any family.

But Samantha has made it clear that she is not ready to stop searching.

Her message to other parents facing complicated medical situations is simple and powerful:

“Never stop looking for an answer. Get a second opinion. Get ten opinions if you need to.”

For Samantha, that persistence helped her find a specialist and treatment option thousands of miles from home.

Myla’s story also follows the journeys of other children whose families have traveled great distances searching for answers, including Lily from Louisiana, 7-year-old Ka’Vayah from Amarillo, Texas, and 15-year-old South Texas athlete Ryan Rodriguez.

Their medical circumstances are different, but their families share something important: they refuse to stop advocating for their children.

Now Myla’s family is asking others to surround their little girl with the same love and prayers that have supported so many families before her. 🙏🕊️

Her road is not over.

More treatments are expected. More travel may be necessary. And her parents will continue searching for whatever options may help her as she grows.

For now, there is that smile.

A two-year-old who has endured surgery and 13 additional procedures, yet still wakes up looking for something to laugh about.

Myla’s journey is a reminder of the extraordinary strength that can exist inside the smallest people—and of what a parent will do when they refuse to stop searching for hope. 💛

So today, if you see Myla’s story, send this little girl some love.

Pray for her continued strength.

Pray for wisdom for every specialist caring for her.

Pray for Samantha and her family as they navigate the road ahead.

And pray that the resources and treatment options Myla needs will continue to be available to her.

Most importantly, let her family know they are not alone.

What would you want Myla’s mom to know? 💛🙏