Mum told she was “cruel” for having her son after he was born with severe cleft lip

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.

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.

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.

Mum, Joanne Lythgoe-Frank, 58, was “shocked” when she first saw her son but raised him to accept his differences.

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.

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.

Joanne, a part-time receptionist, living in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, said: “My initial reaction was shock at the extent of it.

“It was different to what I expected – a lot more severe.

“I’ve never hidden Zac away to be an over protective mother.

“I tried to instil in Zac – ‘you are different but to embrace it and be proud of your differences’.

“It’s made him into a confident young man.

“On TikTok I was told how cruel a mum I was because I let my child be born.

“Zac lives a normal life. He’s educated, confident his differences haven’t hindered him in life.”

Joanne, who is originally from Manchester, was living in Cyprus when she fell pregnant with her second child Zac.

At 22 weeks pregnant she was told he had a cleft anomaly and asked if she wanted an abortion.

She said: “That for me was never an option.”

Joanne started getting a high blood pressure and developed severe preeclampsia at 24 weeks along.

She was rushed for an emergency C-section and Zac was born on February 24, 2006, weighing 1lbs 5oz.

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’.

“I came round hours later and got taken down to see him.

“Zac’s face was all bandaged up.

“It was deemed something you hide away in Cyprus.”

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.

There he was diagnosed and Joanne was able to hold him for the first time.

She said: “I didn’t see him without bandages until I came back to the UK.

“They offered for me to hold him. My instincts were he was about to die.

“They put him down my bra and he was there for hours.”

Zac was discharged after six months in hospital but had his first surgeries at nine months old to repair his palate and his lip.

Since then he has been back and forth to the UK for further surgeries to reconstruct his face.

He had a recent surgery in October 2023 to reconstruct his cheek – by using bone from his skull.