A mum who was offered an abortion at 23 weeks says she has no regrets after her “gorgeous” baby was born with no eyes.
Danielle Davis, who lives in Cwmbran, South Wales, gave birth to baby Daisy in February this year.
Before the birth Danielle was told of a cyst on the unborn baby’s brain and was offered an abortion.
Rare
But now Danielle – who also has two other children – says there are “no regrets” about the decision.
Daisy has anophthalmia, a condition affecting just one in 10,000 babies, leaving them with no eyes.
During the pregnancy Danielle was not told of a risk of blindness, and she said that while the news was hard to take, she is now determined to help Daisy live a normal life.
Awareness
“We had never heard of the condition before and neither had any of our friends or family so people didn’t really know what to say when we told them,” she explained.
She said that doctors and midwives have been tremendously helpful since the birth.
Now she is fundraising for the Royal National Institute of Blind People by doing a skydive in June.
“I hope that by raising awareness other parents to be won’t experience the same shock that we did if their child has the condition as they will know it exists.”
Encouraging
Danielle explained that the public’s response to her appeal had been unexpected and encouraging.
Daisy will have glass eyes fitted and then later receive painted eyes from around the age of 18 months.
Medics have also revealed Daisy is also partially deaf and so will soon get hearing aids.
Gorgeous
Danielle said, “she is our gorgeous baby and we have no regrets about turning down a termination”.
“We want to give Daisy as normal a life as possible and give her the same opportunities as other children”, she commented.