A single mum says her 'gut instinct' told her something was wrong when her baby boy was born looking nothing like her. After Hannah Doyle, 36, from Halifax, West Yorkshire, welcomed her newborn son Zander into the world, she noticed he had particularly unusual swollen eyes and didn't resemble either of his parents.
Her mother's instinct was proved correct when she asked doctors to carry out further tests and Zander was diagnosed with a rare condition called Chromosome Deletion Syndrome. Now Hannah wants to raise awareness of the syndrome so other babies born with less chromosomes like Zander are better understood.
Speaking about the moments after his birth, Hannah said: "When I held him to do skin-to-skin contact, he was just different to my other babies and I instantly knew there was something different.
"When I looked at his eyes, they were very swollen and did look a bit almond like.
"I do believe to this day that it was him telling me, because his eyes look totally different now.
"Now he does look very much like his dad but when he was first born he did look very different."
Hannah, from Halifax, West Yorkshire first became concerned about her unborn child at 26-weeks pregnant when she found out he had two holes in his heart.
But when Zander was born at Leeds Teaching Hospital in October this year she immediately realised something was wrong.
As she wasn't able to have lots of information about the condition, Hannah said she was "very shocked" when she found out Zander's diagnosis.
Hannah, who is separated from Zander's father, said: "I was very shocked because I think I had always known that it was a possibility.
"My gut instinct was different from when he was born and I'm so grateful for that gut instinct and I believe he was telling me and I was aware of it.
"It was a shock and it felt really daunting and really scary because your mind goes into overload and you just start thinking the worst.
"It was harder because there wasn't really much explanation to it.
"The cardiologist was the one that told me the initial diagnosis but he couldn't comment on it or anything."
Hannah has said that despite his condition, Zander - now aged 10-weeks-old - is a "happy little baby".
But it is now a "waiting game" to find out how he will be affected in the future.
The civil servant from Halifax, said: "He's on the prescription formula which is helping him grow. Now I think it's more of a massive waiting game really, just waiting and seeing really.
"That's the hardest thing because with any other medical condition, there's more answers.
"Particularly when I can't find anyone else with the same particular deletion that he's got missing so there's not even anyone else to compare him to.
"It could have no impact on him whatsoever or it could, but the not knowing is hard because you read things and wonder if it will impact him."
The mum-of-four is trying to spread awareness of Zander's condition, and has started posting videos on TikTok about Chromosome Deletion Syndrome.
Hannah said: "Sometimes I must admit that as a parent, I think it would have been better to have not known this.
"But I know it's better to know so I can understand him if there is any difficulties so I want to spread awareness so lots of other children are just better understood.
"I think children are so easily labeled and judged for certain behaviours when actually they could be so many more reasons behind that."
Do you have a story to share? Email nia.dalton@reachplc.com.
