The little Salford boy born without any eyes

Bilateral anophthalmia affects around 1 in 100,000 births

A Salford couple are raising money for some special adaptations for their son who was born without eyes or an optic nerve.

Beth Fair-Lawton gave birth to her second child, Rudy, at the beginning of 2025. “We didn’t know anything was amiss when I was pregnant – everything was fine with the birth,” she told the M.E.N.

“But I noticed he wasn’t opening his eyes. I kept asking the midwife to look but she kept brushing me off, saying it’s normal for C section babies to not open their eyes at first. I was just told they would eventually.”

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But Beth said she had a ‘gut’ feeling that something was off. An eventual scan days later revealed that Rudy had been born without any eyes or optic nerve, known as bilateral anophthalmia, which affects around 1 in 100,000 births.

Further genetic tests showed Rudy has a mutation of one of his SOX2 genes, which is little researched but may be behind his condition and his moderate hearing loss, Beth said.

“Everyone I know who has got pregnant since has asked at their scans to check the baby’s eyes. Their lenses do show up on the ultrasound. It’s not mandatory to check this on NHS scans, even though I’m pretty sure it’s a vital organ,” she continued drily.

“There were times when he was a new-born and we were referred to different hospitals and asked if he had undergone a vision test. I had to keep explaining that he doesn’t have any eyes.

“Knowing beforehand wouldn’t have changed anything for us, but being prepared would have saved us a lot of heartache and a very hard, confusing start to his life.”

Now 16 months old, Rudy has some developmental delays and has frequent hospital appointments and private therapy sessions to manage his condition. He also wears conformers, temporary plastic shells which maintain the shape of the socket and help his face to develop – while giving him the option to wear prosthetic eyes later in life.

“He has started to get up on all fours, he’s hilarious, constantly smiling, the cuddliest boy ever,” Beth said. “He loves to clap and sway and listen to music.

“If he’s been elsewhere, he puts his hands out and feels my face as if to check it’s me. He loves the sun on his face, as soon as he goes outside he will notice it. So he is reaching these milestones, just at his own pace.”

Beth and her partner Andrew are hoping that funds raised through their JustGiving page will help fund adaptations for Rudy, including a new Braille typewriter, an adaptation for a laptop that Rudy can type on at school, a vibration plate to help build his muscles, and adaptations for his hearing aid ‘so we can all watch TV together’.

“Anything on the NHS, you can’t get until he is classed as officially developmentally delayed,” Beth said. “I don’t want to just wait and see. He’s been in private therapy since last summer and there’s no way he would be where he is now without it.

“He has around four appointments a week alongside classes and therapy sessions. My partner works full time but I haven’t even thought about going back. We just about get by financially and are hoping to get him into nursery this autumn.”

Beth said that it had been a hard period for the family but described Rudy as an ‘amazing’ little boy. “It’s about the little wins that to other people might be nothing but to us make it worth it even on the hard days,” she said. “The first time he learned to clap, the first time he sat up on his own.”

Beth said she loved talking about Rudy and didn’t mind answering questions – but wished other could be more understanding of his condition.

“You either get people who are really curious, or people who don’t know what to say so they look away,” she said. “You get people who come up to look at him and other people who usher their children away.

“I wish there was more understanding that, yes it is hard, but with asking questions and talking about it, it’s not a scary thing.”

Anyone wishing to donate to their fundraiser can do so here.