Born into darkness, but the future's bright for baby Margot

The odds were stacked against Margot after a rare condition robbed her of eyes in the womb, but with a charity's help the happy 16-month-old is progressing well, with her proud parents right behind her

- Nick McGrath

EMOTIONALLY and physically E drained, Laura Duffy-Moss turned to her shattered husband more in hope than expectation and asked if he thought their three-day-old baby could see. It was 72 hours after Margot's premature arrival had forced John to deliver their daughter on the living room floor, with a midwife on the phone.

Two days of inconclusive tests had raised more questions than answers. An appointment with an ophthalmic specialist at York Hospital beckoned the following morning.

But for now, the more the distraught couple examined little Margot's face, the more they feared the worst.

Sixteen months later, sipping coffee in the same sitting room in the quiet Yorkshire village of Askham Richard, dad John, 33, holds back tears, as he remembers replying: "No, I don't think she can see", and watching his wife's world dissolve. "We were both incredibly anxious," he recalls. "But that Monday night before the Tuesday appointment Margot was born on the Friday night - was the first time we'd actually spoken about it."

Laura, 37, continues: "This sounds like an awful thing to say, but the only way I can describe my feelings at that point is grief, which sounds horrendous, because Margot is here and she's so, so lovely, but at the time it was a trauma.

"We were completely lost and when the diagnosis actually came, as much as I expected it, I completely broke down. I was just crying uncontrollably in the hospital and I couldn't see past the next second."" Today Margot who has bilateral anophthalmia, a condition that occurs in just one in 100,000 babies and means their eyeballs don't develop in the womb - is a beautiful, bouncy toddler.

Despite having no sight, it's obvious she is thriving. When I arrive and introduce myself as "Nick", she instantly responds: "Nick, Nick, Nick..."