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.
