Heartbreaking story of Australian girl born without eyes

When Eric Shadbolt, from QLD, and his wife decided to adopt Tanya he was told it would ruin his life but that could not have been further from than the truth.

A father has spoken out for the first time about his adopted daughter who was born without eyes and abandoned by her birth parents aged two.

Eric Shadbolt, from Toowooba, in Queensland, read about Tanya in the parish newsletter some 30 years ago.

Authorities were desperate to find foster parents for her and Eric was so moved by her tragic story that he took the newsletter home to his wife and said: “I think we should do this.”

“I don’t know why but I just thought ‘we’ve got to take this little girl’,” he told the Toowoomba Chronicle.

Tanya was abandoned by her birth parents aged two. Picture: Supplied

Eric Shadbolt with his adopted daughter Tanya from the day he first read about her in the parish newsletter some thirty years ago. Picture: Supplied

Tanya was the youngest of four siblings all under five that were given up to the state.

She has a rare congenital disorder and was born without eyes.

At the time, Eric and his wife were approaching their fifties and had two adult sons but they were unwavering in their determination to help Tanya.

After becoming her foster parents they agreed they wanted to adopt Tanya but when Eric went to sort out the documentation the clerk told him that doing so “would ruin his life”.

Eric simply replied “everybody’s got to have a fair go” and pushed ahead with the adoption.

Tanya flourished with her new family, although Eric admits it was hard to start with.

Tanya flourished after Eric and his wife adopted her and became a keen sportswoman. Picture: Supplied

Eric and his second wife Estelle have now made the difficult decision to transfer Tanya into full-time care. Picture: Supplied

Tanya had a cleft lip and feeding was tricky.

“She was only on the bottle, didn’t sleep very well, wasn’t toilet trained,” Eric said.

“But my wife was very capable and very able to work with Tanya.

“We had a lot of different things happen over the time but she came into her own pretty quickly.”

Tanya had trouble sleeping in the early days and the couple spent most of their nights walking around trying to get her to drift off.

“We had been told the way to get her to sleep is to put her in the tub,” he said.

“She would have a bath and it would warm her up and get her nodding off better.

“That’s where she learnt how to swim, was in the bath.”

As Tanya grew up she flourished into a keen sportswoman and never let her disabilities get in the way of what she loved.

“When she was little she loved to climb, it didn’t matter what it was,” Eric said.

“She was really athletic.

“She was phenomenal on the trampoline.”

Tragically Eric’s first wife passed away but he then met Estelle who took Tanya on as though she were her own.

However, now Eric and Estelle are coming into their late 80s, they are making difficult decisions about who is to care for Tanya, now 36, when they are no longer around.

They made the difficult decision in April to transition their daughter into full-time care at Multicap Supported Independent Living, a team she had grown to trust while visiting their respite care facility.

“We both get a bit emotional now we don’t have her with us,” Estelle said.

“Many tears shed over that, there probably still is more to come,” Eric said.

“You want to bring her home again, you think ‘we can keep doing this’ but we know we can’t.

“When you speak to parents about the situation, it’s the one big fear for everybody.

“What’s going to happen to my child when we’re too old to look after them?”

Eric added that they felt it was better for Tanya to be with a team that knows her than wait until he and his wife are gone.

“You’re doing what’s best for your child, and your relationship with them remains strong,” he said.

“It’s a significant transition, but it doesn’t reflect your love as a parent.

“They will always know how much you love them.”