Savannah mom starts Liam’s Land to promote lymphatic malformation research
Not long after Liam was born, his mother Janet Steffen knew there was something she could do – a way to use her vascular nursing background. It just took her a while to figure it out.
Liam was born with a cystic hygroma, a malformation in his tongue and floor of his mouth that required him to be trached shortly after birth. The Savannah baby will also have to undergo as many as a dozen surgeries, the first of which he had a few months ago.
After countless hours of research and talking to some of the lead facilities that deal with lymphatic malformations, Janet realized that there was no national database to serve as a repository that could stand alone or be used by researchers.
A few months ago, Janet Steffen founded a nonprofit called Liam’s Land that will support the national database and further clinical trial/research. Liam’s Land has gained support from some of the top hospitals/doctors that deal with lymphatic malformations. And Liam’s surgeon, Dr. Gary Josephson of Nemours Children’s Hospital, is spearheading the database project with Janet.
The website for Liam’s Land would not have been possible without people donating their talents to the site. Kudos to Clark Creative Design for the logo, Southpoint Media for the web design, and John Zeuli for the photography. Now it is time to get to work and raise awareness. So please check out www.liamsland.org