“She’s equally as beautiful as before, there’s just a little extra Tessa now” –Grainne Evans
Grainne Evans was told to abort her unborn child after doctors found abnormalities in her ultrasound scans.
Grainne rejected her doctor’s advice and carried her baby girl, Tessa Evans, to term. Tessa was born with congenital arhinia, a condition that causes an individual to be born without a nose. There are fewer than 50 cases in reported history. The odds of being born with it are 1 in 197 million.
When Tessa was born, her mother and the doctors didn’t know what to do.
“I felt so lonely and helpless, I was supposed to protect my baby and be able to help, but I couldn’t,” Grainne said in 2015. “There were tubes coming out of her tiny little body everywhere. She spent her first five weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit, which were undoubtedly the worst weeks of my life.”
Grainne wants everyone to know that despite a few obstacles (and what family doesn’t have those?), Tessa is now a typical 2-year-old girl.
“Tessa is like any other little girl,” the proud mom said. “She loves playing with her brother and sister, she’s always smiling, and has never let her condition stop her from doing anything.”
Fortunately, thanks to 3D-printing techniques, doctors have come up with a unique way to insert the mold of a faux nose onto Tessa’s face. The nose will be refitted every few years to make sure it “grows with her body.”
Thanks to this mother’s instincts and modern technology, Tessa will have a happy life.
h/t [Little Things]