“They left me because I looked like this and it destroyed me.”
A man who was rejected by his birth parents for his facial differences embraced his unique identity to inspire others.
Jono Lancaster was born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, a rare condition that caused him to be born without cheekbones and with an underdeveloped jaw, as well as “Bart Simpson ears” that left him needing a hearing aid.
Learning to embrace his unique appearance has been a long journey, one that started from the moment he was born.
The 38-year-old man from West Yorkshire, has found a hospital document that read: “Both parents were horrified by the child’s appearance. Both parents felt no maternal bond.
“Both parents left the hospital 36 hours later, leaving the child behind.”
After a difficult time coming to terms with being treated differently for his looks, Jono now runs a charity that supports others with similar conditions, and he shared his inspiring story on LadBibleTV.
“When I was in college, obviously I didn’t have those words,” he explained.
“I was forming the pieces, I was creating the answers, and at that point they left me because I looked different.
“They left me because I looked like this and it destroyed me.”
Although he’d suffered taunting from people on the street before, Jono said he had a ‘safe, close knit environment’ – but this all changed when he reached high school.
“All of a sudden there’s all these kids that hadn’t seen me before. I was exposed to the older kids,” he said.
“And then all of a sudden the pointing, the name calling, kids pulling their eyes down towards me, just laughing at me… that’s when my differences weren’t cool anymore, I wasn’t able to celebrate them.”
As he got older and went through a relationship and breakup, Jonathan suffered what he described as his ‘darkest period’.
Despite this, Jono admitted that he had still suffered some setbacks in his journey – an attempt to reach out to his birth parents was flatly rejected.
But, this didn’t prevent Jono from embracing his identity, when he realised that he was comfortable looking at his own reflection in a full-length mirror at the gym.
“I look at my face, and instead of wanting to push my eyes up, I smiled.,” he explained. “For the first time in I can’t remember how many years, I absolutely loved what I saw.”
But when he turned 20, he went through a four year period of ‘growth and healing’ which led to him becoming the confident and outgoing person he is today.
One person who has always backed Jono is his mum, Jean, who adopted him at the age of five.
During this period, he explained: “My mum, she’d always been there – but now I was open to her to talk.
“My friendships were there, I was talking to them. I was in a healthy relationship, I had a job, I was in a very good place.”
Being in such a secure place in his life, Jono decided to reach out to his birth parents to let them know he was okay, but the contact was rejected.
Looking back, he said it was a ‘mixture of emotions’, although at this point he’d made peace with what had happened.
“Now I’ve stripped it all back and the truth is the only thing I know about my birth parents is they gave me life.
“They brought me into this world and it’s down to me to live this life and make the most of this life.
“And it’s a beautiful life, now anyway, so for that I’m forever blessed.”
He even started his own successful charity named the Love Me Love My Face Foundation.
The organisation supports children born with facial differences by funding medical services, and organising support networks for people to connect over their unique experiences.
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