Man born with Treacher Collins syndrome was rejected by biological parents 36 hrs after birth for his face, but his adoptive mom didn't care

A man, born with Treacher Collins syndrome, was given up by his biological parents 36 hours after he was born because they couldn't "cope" with how he looked. However, Jean, the woman who formally adopted him at the age of 5, didn't care about his appearance.

After 25 years, the man, Jonathan Lancaster, finally had the emotional stability to read his adoption papers, which he says were hard as it was about his parents' decision to put him up for adoption.

In an article shared on Insider.com, Lancaster, who is a motivational speaker, revealed that his biological parents, a married couple in their 20s, signed over their rights to him 36 hours after he was born. They told social workers and staff at the hospital that they didn't want other family members to meet him.


When the 37-year-old tried to make contact with his birth parents in 2009 by sending them a letter informing that he was okay, the response wasn't very welcoming. "We do not wish any contact, and further attempts will be ignored," read the reply. "It was crushing," Lancaster said.

The article further revealed that Lancaster's syndrome is characterised by "abnormalities" of the head and face. His form of the Treacher Collins syndrome is termed "sporadic", which is said to affect 1 in 50,000 people in different ways.

It took more than a decade for Lancaster to love the way he looked and not hate himself, and his adoptive mother, his crush who told him she loves his face, played an important role in that.

In the as-told essay, Lancaster thanked his mother for doing a "fantastic job" of protecting him and the girl, who was his coworker on whom he had a crush, for "changing his life".

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Lancaster was 21 when he met the girl who was his coworker at the bar. Recalling the incident, he revealed that he never thought the "cool" girl would even be interested in him.

"I thought she was the coolest person ever. But I couldn't imagine that a girl like that would be interested in me," he said.

But the two become close friends and one day, she asked him out. "We became close, and she asked me out for some drinks. I wanted to play it cool, but I was like, 'I'm free tomorrow, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday'," the 37-year-old said, adding that one night, over a bottle of wine, the girl kissed him and said "I love your face". This changed Lancaster's life completely. From feeling unlovable, Lancaster now felt like "the sexiest guy in the world," and it was all thanks to those four kind words.

Even today, he keeps going back to the girl's comment. However, after a life full of hardship, affection and learnings, Lancaster says that he has nothing against his biological parents. "Ultimately, when I think about my parents, I feel that I never have to 'forgive' them. There's nothing to forgive," he told Insider.com, adding that he is now in a place of happiness and joy.

"They brought me into this world. I need to live the life that they gave me. It's been a long journey to get where I am. But I'm in a place of happiness and joy," Lancaster concluded.