Mom Who Kept Baby with Birth Defect After Adoptive Parents Abandoned Her: 'She's Perfect and I'm Sorry They Couldn't See That'

Photo: OKSANA PEERY PHOTOGRAPHY

A Florida mother is speaking out about the heart-wrenching moment the adoptive mother of her baby girl refused to go through with the adoption after realizing she was born with a rare birth defect.

Christina Fisher, a single mother, had an open adoption agreement with a “sweet, nice” couple that assisted her during her pregnancy in 2015 and were present when she gave birth to Abigail Lynn on January 11, 2016. Upon seeing the baby – who was born with undetected facial deformities – the adoptive mother “cried and left the hospital immediately.”

The next day, the couple backed out of their adoption contract.

“You want to think better of people, but it’s moments like that that make you lose faith in humanity,” Fisher, 36, tells PEOPLE. “I just didn’t understand how they could do that to a baby.”

Fisher, who works at a fast food restaurant in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, to support herself and her 18-year-old daughter Deborah, decided to keep Abigail.

“Honestly, they missed out because my daughter is the most beautiful and happy baby on the planet,” says Fisher. “She’s perfect and I’m just sorry they couldn’t see that.”

Abigail was born with Treacher Collins syndrome, a rare condition that affects the way the face develops and can cause problems with speech, eating and breathing.

Fisher says when she first connected with the adoptive mother through an adoption agency, she had an amniocentesis – a genetic test to determine if genetic disorders are present in unborn babies – performed, which showed no signs of Treacher Collins syndrome.

“The couple was so generous, they sent me robes and soothing body oils and back washes when I was pregnant,” she says. “They were in the hospital the day I was admitted and they were there with me every step of the way.”

She adds, “But when Abigail wasn’t perfect, they left.”

“I went through 13 hours of labor and ended up needing a cesarean. When she was born I didn’t see her ears – Abigail just looked like a chubby, swollen baby before they took her away to the NICU,” says Fisher.

When the couple first laid eyes on Abigail in the NICU, they decided not to go through with the adoption.

“The woman came out crying and kept saying, ‘She’s deformed,’ ” says Fisher. “The next day I got a call from the adoption agency saying they backed out.”

Abigail, now almost 5-months-old, is “doing great” according to her mom.

“She is just a really happy baby, if you’re talking to her she will look at you and giggle. It’s hilarious!” says Fisher. “She’s the sweetest little human you’ll ever meet.”

Fisher harbors no hate for the couple that “rejected” her daughter – in fact, she “feels sorry for them.”

“I hate what they did of course,” she says. “But I feel sorry for them because they missed out on getting to know her. She is truly amazing.”