Vascular Anomalies Alliance

08/04/2025

THANK YOU to all our June & July donors! 🫶🏼

08/01/2025

The birthmark community spotlights are what makes the Purple Polka Dot Race so impactful! 💜👏🏻

07/31/2025

This is going to be a BLAST!

Polka Dot-ers!!!

FAMILY FUN RUN IS SOLD OUT!

We are so excited to welcome 150 athletes of all ages to our "unnecessarily difficult" Family FUN Run Obstacle Course for 2025!!!

We are adding in for this year:
- work out circuit
- ninja jumps
- limbo
- army crawl

Please note that your crew does not HAVE to do these in our .25 mile loop - but it certainly is encouraged!!! Some of our youngest Polka Dot-ers just enjoy running through the course as they feel best and we say...BRING IT! We just want you all out there moving your bodies and having the best time ever!!

We cannot wait to see you all out there Fun Run Polka Dot-ers!!!

5K and QM(ish) - there's still 10 days left for you to join in on all the fun too!! (No obstacles for you - thank goodness)

See you soon!!!
https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/ShelbyTwp/PurplePolkaDotRaceMI

07/27/2025

07/25/2025

07/24/2025

What it’s all about! We love supporting our birthmark buddies 💜 Well done, Purple Polka Dot Race!

07/22/2025

✨ Vascular Anomalies Alliance Board Spotlight ✨
👋 Meet Maille—One of the most hardworking and determined ladies we know in the birthmark community. She is likely a familiar face in your feed with her Remarkable you page where she shares her progress on making her mark in this community! We are lucky to have her along for the ride with us! 💖

“Maille McNicholas just completed her Senior year of high school and is starting her degree in Elementary Education through dual enrollment at Kutztown University. Born with PIK3CA-related overgrowth syndrome (PROS) manifested as Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome, Maille has venous and capillary malformations (port wine stain birthmark) as well as lymphatic malformations and muscle overgrowth of her right leg. She has received treatment since infancy at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Comprehensive Vascular Anomalies Program (CVAP) under the direction of Dr. Denise Adams, and three sclerotherapy treatments to alleviate the pain caused by her venous malformations. Maille is an accomplished competitive dancer and a local teen Titleholder for the Miss America Organization.

When she was twelve years old, Maille decided to make her mark on the world by becoming an advocate for individuals, like her, born with vascular anomalies and related syndromes. She is the Founder of her nonprofit organization, ReMARKable you! whose mission is to not only provide education about vascular birthmarks, anomalies and related syndromes, but also to encourage all individuals with visible and invisible differences to celebrate their unique qualities in order to manifest their genuine selves. She presents at health and wellness fairs, public speaking engagements and elementary centers with her “I am ReMARKable” presentation and children’s book based on her own personal story, No More Leggings for Lainey. Maille is also co-host of the Pennsylvania Purple Polka Dot Race and host of her YouTube interview series called More Than a Birthmark. Through her social media Remarkable You and website www.project-remarkableyou.org (http://www.project-remarkableyou.org/), she connects with others to promote her message of what makes you different makes you reMARKable!”

07/22/2025

How sweet is this! Join us for some fun at the Purple Polka Dot Race 🏃‍♀️

07/19/2025

Hard at work for the Purple Polka Dot Race

07/17/2025