Shine OnMother’s loving tribute to son born with bilateral cleft palate and unable to see
Tennessee mom Lacey Buchanan pays loving tribute to her little boy, Christian, in a touching YouTube video that is bringing tears to eyes everywhere.
During the seven-minute film, Buchanan holds up cards chronicling her parenting journey.
Christian, now 14 months old, was born with a rare Tessier cleft lip and palate, and without fully formed eyes. His birth alone was miraculous, considering there was an 85 per cent chance Lacey would miscarry. Following a series of operations — Christian can now close his mouth — 25-year-old Lacey and her husband, Chris, brought home their infant son, unsure of how to raise a blind child.
The video honours the little boy Lacey calls "the love of my life," and challenges the way people look at him.
"Anyone who meets Christian falls in love with him pretty quickly," one card says.
Her video went viral.
"I didn't expect it to be as powerful as it was, because to me it's just me and my son,' Lacey told MailOnline.
"My biggest point with the video was that he deserves life, and he deserves everything that I am going to give him. I was hoping to inspire other parents who are in a situation where they found out that their child may be disabled and they are dealing with the question of whether or not to give a disabled child life."
She adds, "I wanted to just give them a little hope that it is hard at times, but there are happy times too, and the happy times so outweigh the hard times."
Lacey is currently planning to finish law school where she's specializing in disability advocacy law.
"I want to be able to help people like Christian," she says.
Lacey shares her family's journey on her blog, Leading the Blind.
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