Parents are expected to love their children unconditionally, no matter their personality, physical characteristics or sexual orientation. After all, their children are their own flesh and blood.
But this father begged to differ: as soon as he saw that his newborn had down syndrome, he called her “defective.”
According to Independent Journal Review, he left three days after he found out that his daughter, on top of the down syndrome, had three holes in her heart and a possible leukemia.
Now, two years later, mom Stephanie Mullowney proves that her daughter Hannah Grace was anything but defective.
“As soon as I gave birth and saw her, I knew she had Down Syndrome,” Stephanie told Independent Journal Review. “But when my then-husband saw her and asked, ‘Does it look like there’s something wrong with her?’”
Their child’s birth depressed the father.
“He was nervous people would make fun of us and said, ‘they’re going to look at ME and blame this on me. Look at me like it’s my fault,’” Stephanie recalled him saying. “He didn’t want people to look at him and feel sorry for us.
“He just said stupid stuff that you wouldn’t even think a parent would say. He wasn’t proud of her at all and called her ‘defective.’”
Although the father’s leaving depressed Stephanie in the beginning, she eventually admitted that they’re better off without him.
Find out more about Stephanie and Hannah’s journey on the next page!
“I felt that my daughter and I were easily replaceable because we weren’t good enough for him…because SHE wasn’t ‘perfect.’
“I felt betrayed and angry. I cried myself to sleep most every night, but tried not to let my daughter see me sad. I felt too insignificant to take care of and provide for someone as wonderful as her.
“How would I ever be ‘good enough’ or be able to provide for her alone?”
Even though Hannah’s father doesn’t love her, Stephanie takes comfort in the fact that there’s someone does—God. And this knowledge helped her keep going on.
Photo credit: Paperdolls Photography
To capture her daughter’s beauty, Stephanie took up photography, with a little encouragement from her boss who is a videographer.
He had told Stephanie she had a gift for photography, and she has been doing it ever since.
In March of 2016, Stephanie successfully launched Paperdolls Photography, specializing in special needs photography.
READ: What you should know about Down syndrome
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