My Daughter Is The Fairest Of Them All

When Hana Schank’s daughter was diagnosed with albinism, she struggled to cope. But now they’ve found a new normal…

- Kira Agass

Career, marriage, babies – that’s what I’ve always wanted from life and, preferably, in that order. I had it all planned and sure enough, by 36, I’d climbed the proverbial ladder as a technology consultant, and my husband Steven and I were expecting our second child. I prepped for the birth as though there would be an exam. and when my daughter nora was born in February 2009, it seemed as though everything had fallen into place, but I was soon to discover that there are some things you can’t plan for…

From the moment Nora arrived she had everyone charmed. The nurses couldn’t believe what a good baby she was – quiet, content, and oh-so strikingly blonde. In fact, I remember being confused by how impressed they all seemed by her fair hair. ‘Surely you get blonde babies all the time?’ I asked. ‘Oh, yes,’ they replied. ‘But not like this, not with eyelashes and eyebrows to match.’

Of course, I didn’t think anything of it. But bringing Nora home two days later, the idea that something wasn’t right started to niggle at me. She didn’t behave like her brother did when he was a baby. I’d walk in to check on her while she was napping and I’d find her awake, staring at the ceiling, her eyes moving around as though they were chasing something.

I told myself my hormones were just making me neurotic. Only, when Nora was eight weeks old, having just recovered the perfect baby – quiet and content from a fever, I took her for a check up.

Her temperature was down, but the doctor noticed something. ‘Do you see that?’ he asked, gesturing to her eyes. They were moving back and forth. ‘Yes,’ I replied, somewhat triumphant I hadn’t been imagining the whole thing. ‘What is it?’