‘My daughter’s face is paralysed - the signs were in ultrasound’ (2025)

Baby Hazel was born with eyes “like a little owl”

Victoria LaBrie welcomed her fifth child in December, a baby girl called Hazel who was seemingly healthy but with her eyes “wide open like a little owl”. Sensing something was wrong, Victoria and her partner Bobby, Hazel’s dad, sought out an answer.

Two weeks later, newborn Hazel was diagnosed with Moebius syndrome. This neurological condition is extremely rare and causes complete facial paralysis, even leaving patients unable to blink.

She recalled her 3D ultrasound scans while she was pregnant with Hazel when she first spotted her daughters eyes were open. Victoria pointed it out to the technicians who all agreed it was “very cute”, and thought nothing more of it.

The 30-year-old mum admitted the diagnosis was “devastating at first” realising she’d never see her daughter smile, but after processing it she’s now determined to “make Hazel’s life the best it can be”, starting by raising awareness of the condition. Taking to TikTok, Victoria made a few videos about Hazel that quickly went viral over her daughter’s unique look.

The special educational needs assistant told PA Real Life: “She’s just got this beautiful fair skin and these great big eyeballs, and she just looks like a little doll. No one has mistaken her for a doll yet, but people always say she looks like one.”

There is hope Hazel will be able to talk someday, as she does have some mobility in the lower left side of her lip. However she can’t blink or move her eyes side to side.

Victoria has to manually close her daughter’s eyes to rest them and apply eye ointment every hour or so to prevent damage to the eyes. Hazel even sleeps with her eyes open: “If I try to close her eyes for her when she’s sleeping they’ll open by themselves after a few seconds.”

The Minnesota-based mum has also learned to sense Hazel’s emotions: “I can read her emotions looking at her eyes and the way she moves – I can sense her happiness. You can just tell that she is comfortable and she’s happy. Some of my other children are autistic so they struggle with communicating their emotions so I’m kind of used to it.”

Victoria has four children which she co-parents with her ex-husband Tony, all of whom are neurodivergent. Six-year-old twins Harley and Harper and their four-year-old brother Colton are autistic while their adopted sister 14-year-old Veronica has ADHD.

“With disabled kids you plan to keep them happy right now and so I don’t want to say that I’m worried about her future – I know that if anything gets thrown towards us, we’re just going to take one day at a time,” Victoria added.

To help care for her five special needs children, Victoria’s mother put together a GoFundMe page to help cover the costs of a new home that will accommodate all of their needs. She said: “The market is crazy at the moment and my kids have a lot more needs than just finding a house – we have to stay away from water, have to be fenced in, watch out for busy streets.”