The parents of a baby girl have shared their heartbreak after their daughter was born with an extremely rare condition called anophthalmia, meaning she has no eyes.

Mother-of-three Danielle Davis refused to end her pregnancy after a routine scan revealed a cyst on her baby’s brain.

But when Daisy arrived, Danielle and her partner, Andrew Smith, 31, were given unexpected news: their little girl had anophthalmia, a rare condition in which the eyes do not develop during pregnancy.

The condition has no known cure. Although Daisy can be fitted with specially designed artificial eyes as she grows, she will never have the ability to see.

Danielle, a care worker from Cwmbran, South Wales, said: “It was a shock — we had never heard of it before, and neither had any of our friends or family.

“People didn’t really know what to say when we told them.

“But she is our gorgeous baby, and we have absolutely no regrets about continuing the pregnancy.

“We want to give Daisy as normal a life as possible and offer her the same opportunities as other children.”

Anophthalmia is an extremely rare condition in which a baby develops without one or both eyes. It occurs during pregnancy and affects approximately one in every 10,000 births in the UK. Sadly, there is currently no cure.

Danielle said: “The cyst showed up during the 21-week scan, and naturally, we were worried.

“But none of the doctors told us our baby might be born without eyes.

“Everyone has been incredibly supportive, and I cannot thank the doctors and midwives enough for everything they have done.”

Daisy, now eight weeks old, is settling into family life at home with her siblings, Logan, six, and Tyler, four.

Later this month, she is due to be admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital for a procedure to have specially designed artificial eyes fitted.

These will be replaced when she reaches 18 months old with individually painted prosthetic eyes designed to look more natural.

Her parents are also planning a 12,000ft skydive to raise money for the charity RNIB, which supports people living with sight loss.

The couple hope their efforts will also help raise awareness of Daisy’s rare condition.

Danielle said: “I hope that by raising awareness, other expectant parents won’t experience the same shock we did if their child has this condition.”

Their story comes after MailOnline previously reported on baby Richie, who also arrived with anophthalmia in January.

Medical staff at Arizona’s Banner Desert Medical Center initially believed Richie’s face was swollen when he was delivered.

However, they were surprised to discover that the reason his eyelids would not open was that he had anophthalmia.

Richie’s mother, Kelly Lopez, from Mesa, Arizona, remains hopeful that advances in medical science may one day give her son the opportunity to experience sight during his lifetime.

Source: Daily Mail