Baby who is happy and healthy Jireh was born in June 2021 to Toneka and Justin Robinson, who are both 32 years old and from Dallas, Texas, accordingly. Doctors told the family that the problem was only on the surface and wasn’t dangerous on its own, but it did raise the risk of skin cancer.
This beautiful baby girl was born with a strange condition that made her skin dark all over.
Toneka Rogers Robinson, 32, of Dallas, Texas, is a quality analyst, and her husband, Justin, 34, is an entrepreneur. They met in high school and had been together for 17 years before their daughter Jireh was born.
Toneka went to see her doctor regularly while she was pregnant and had a number of tests to make sure everything was going well.
Jireh was born healthy and happy in June 2021, but her parents were worried at first because she had dark spots all over her skin.
Their doctors told Toneka and Justin quickly that the marks were only on the surface. Jireh was in great shape.
Jireh was found to have Congenital Melanocytic Nevus (CMN), which are pigmented (melanocytic) skin growths that are already there at birth and can be seen.
The condition is not passed down from parent to child. Instead, it is caused by the wrong growth of pigment cells in the first three months of pregnancy.
About 1% of babies around the world have this condition. Melanoma is more likely to happen if you have this condition.
Toneka and Justin started posting pictures of their daughter Jireh on Instagram to keep family members up to date. However, Jireh’s unique look caught people’s attention, and now her Instagram account, @ jirehjoy_, has more than 7,000 followers.
The couple is happy that Jireh will grow up in a world that is becoming more accepting of differences.
“Justin and I have been together since high school. We were together for nine years before we got married, which was eight years ago in February,” said Toneka. After going to college and working in different states, we got married in 2013 and moved to Dallas. In 2019, we found out we were having our first child, a girl named Justice. She was born early, at 28 weeks, but her prognosis was good, and doctors thought she would get better.
We didn’t expect to lose her when she was four weeks old. We found out we were having Jireh five months after that.
Even though we were still sad, we started getting ready for a high-risk pregnancy. I had a lot of appointments and tests to make sure this pregnancy was safe. Jireh was born at 38 weeks and 2 days, through a planned cesarean section. The surgery screen was pulled up, so my husband saw her before I did. “What’s that on her face?” was the first thing he said.
Toneka and Justin want to keep telling Jireh that her skin is beautiful, and they are glad that other people agree with them.
“I’m not as worried as I would have been if she were growing up when we were. I can’t think of any classmates who had skin problems that were easy to see. I’ve talked to a few parents whose kids have similar conditions and asked them about their lives.
I feel like she will not feel alone,” Toneka said.
“Inclusion and accepting differences are very important to the people of today. So many stars, like Winnie Harlow and Seal, have different-colored skin. They are still liked for what they can do.
“I’m sure she’ll hear some not-so-nice things, but her confidence will be strong enough to handle it. Most adults who are interested will ask about her skin, and we don’t mind telling them about it. I had a neighbor’s kid tell me that she looked gross, but I didn’t say anything at the time. I talked to his mom about it later.”
CMS is just one of those things. It doesn’t tell you anything about Jireh or make her less important than anyone else.
“I have a lot of hopes for her. I hope we can be the best parents for her and give her everything she wants. I talk about it with her. I treat her like any other kid, since she is just like any other kid.” she said.