Mum told she was “cruel” for having her son after he was born with severe cleft lip from happy feet and toes Watch Video

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✓ Published: 10-May-2024

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A mum who was told she was “cruel” for having her son after he was born with a rare severe cleft lip says it has never held him back.<br/><br/>Zac Coates, now 18, was born with Tessier cleft lip and palate – a condition which is caused by facial tissues not joining up properly during development.<br/><br/>It left Zac with severe facial disfigurement on his ride side and he had no eye lid which left him blind in his right eye.<br/><br/>Mum, Joanne Lythgoe-Frank, 58, was “shocked” when she first saw her son but raised him to accept his differences.<br/><br/>Zac has undergone 16 surgeries to help restructure his face and is now a happy and healthy 18-year-old who is hoping to go to university to study film production in September.<br/><br/>Zac, who lived in Cyprus for 17 years, has dealt with stares and comments such being called a “monster” – but he hasn’t left his difference hold him back.<br/><br/>Joanne, a part-time receptionist, living in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, said: “My initial reaction was shock at the extent of it. <br/><br/>“It was different to what I expected – a lot more severe.<br/><br/>“I’ve never hidden Zac away to be an over protective mother.<br/><br/>“I tried to instil in Zac – ‘you are different but to embrace it and be proud of your differences’.<br/><br/>“It’s made him into a confident young man.<br/><br/>“On TikTok I was told how cruel a mum I was because I let my child be born.<br/><br/>“Zac lives a normal life. He’s educated, confident his differences haven’t hindered him in life.”<br/><br/>Joanne, who is originally from Manchester, was living in Cyprus when she fell pregnant with her second child Zac.<br/><br/>At 22 weeks pregnant she was told he had a cleft anomaly and asked if she wanted an abortion.<br/><br/>She said: “That for me was never an option.”<br/><br/>Joanne started getting a high blood pressure and developed severe preeclampsia at 24 weeks along.<br/><br/>She was rushed for an emergency C-section and Zac was born on February 24, 2006, weighing 1lbs 5oz.<br/><br/>Joanne said: “I remember being told ‘your little boy isn’t going to survive – he’s got issues. Maybe it’s better he doesn’t’.<br/><br/>“I came round hours later and got taken down to see him.<br/><br/>“Zac’s face was all bandaged up.<br/><br/>“It was deemed something you hide away in Cyprus.”<br/><br/>Joanne was told Zac had a 20 per cent chance of survival and she didn’t see her little boy properly until she was able to get him flown over the UK two weeks later.<br/><br/>There he was diagnosed and Joanne was able to hold him for the first time.<br/><br/>She said: “I didn’t see him without bandages until I came back to the UK.<br/><br/>“They offered for me to hold him. My instincts were he was about to die.<br/><br/>“They put him down my bra and he was there for hours.”<br/><br/>Zac was discharged after six months in hospital but had his first surgeries at nine months old to repair his palate and his lip.<br/><br/>Since then he has been back and forth to the UK for further surgeries to reconstruct his face.<br/><br/>He had a recent surgery in October 2023 to reconstruct his cheek – by using bone from his skull.