Sandy Diaz: a toddler’s fight against a rare growth that threatened her breathing

When Sandy Diaz was born in Queens in June 2015, her family immediately faced a medical emergency. She had a softball-sized lymphatic malformation on her neck and face. The mass pressed on her airway and put her life at risk from the start.

Doctors first tried less invasive options. They attempted to drain the swelling and used injections meant to shrink it. Those steps were not enough. The growth kept interfering with her breathing and development. She needed a feeding tube and a tracheostomy to stay safe.

Before the major operation, the mass limited her movement so much that she could not crawl or walk. Everyday milestones other infants reach were out of reach.

In August 2016, surgeons at Lenox Hill Hospital, including Dr. Milton Waner and Dr. Teresa O, performed a long, high-risk procedure. They used nerve-mapping technology to reduce the chance of facial paralysis and worked carefully around major blood vessels in the neck. Reports said they removed most of the malformation — later accounts put the figure around 95 to 98 percent.

The surgery opened her airway and changed what her body could do. Follow-up visits included injections to treat remaining pockets. By preschool age she was more active, no longer needed a trach, was beginning to eat pureed food, and was starting to speak, while still needing therapy to catch up.

Her story is not that the condition vanished overnight. It is that a dangerous mass was reduced in time, her airway was protected, and a child who once could barely move was able to grow into a more ordinary childhood.

Sources
New York Daily News reporting on Sandy Diaz’s 2016 surgery and 2019 follow-up.
NBC New York and FOX 5 New York coverage of the Lenox Hill Hospital operation.
ABC7NY / ABC30 reports on recovery after removal of most of the lymphatic malformation