Dishonest
There was no way he could have prepared for it. It was astonishing that his wife of many years could do this to him. He was nothing but a loyal husband and a great father.
His only suspicion of infidelity arose from seeing his newborn daughter.
Married Couple
Angela and Ben Ihegboro was your average married couple.
Both Ben and Angela were born in Nigeria until they decided to make the move to London. The city was strange and different, and something strange happened to them.
Threat
Infidelity is a threat that hangs over all successful couples. Partners may deny that they believe that their relationship might succumb to infidelity, but the truth is, everyone, fears it.
The couple had no idea that this menace was about to knock on their door.
The Beginning
Ben and Angela moved to London with their two children in hopes of a better future. 5 years after their big move Angela surprised Ben with the best news. “Babe, I’m pregnant,” she said with a big smile on her face.
The couple was ecstatic but little did they know of what horrible fate was waiting for them.
Keeping It A Secret
The couple decided to keep the pregnancy a secret, until Angela was unable to hide her baby bump. They wanted to have a big party to reveal the coming of their new family member.
But they would soon learn that they would be the ones hit with the biggest surprise.
Time To Go
Angela's pregnancy was problem-free. When the time came for Angela to deliver the baby, Ben made sure that everything went smoothly. They could not contain their excitement.
The hospital experience went according to plan. Angela was in good spirits and was ready for delivery.
Something Strange
Ben waited patiently for his new daughter's arrival. The doctor, nurses, and parents were all unprepared for what was to follow.
The doctor saw that there was something strange about the baby. The room fell silent, anxiety increased, and then chaos erupted from the nurses.
Realization
The reaction caused Angela to feel alarmed. She asked the doctor whether or not something was wrong. The nurses reassured her that everything was perfect. She knew something was wrong but once she was handed her daughter, she understood their puzzled looks.
After holding her newborn baby in her arms, Angela realized that its face was too familiar to ignore.
Top Priority
Every mother's number one priority is to ensure that their child is in perfect health, and Angela's daughter was in optimal health.
There was nothing strange about their child's birth. But the health of their daughter was not even on Ben's mind when he saw her.
Not What He Was Expecting
Ben never saw this coming. He loved his wife and children so much, he would do anything for them. He thought his wife felt the same. He never suspected infidelity before, until he saw the baby in his wife's arms.
How could she do this to him? He looked at her as he asked, “What is going on?”
Drama Ensues
The baby was not only white, she was blue-eyed and blonde. What's more puzzling is that both her parents were black Nigerians. Realizing the predicament she was in, Angela began explaining to both her husband and the nurses that she had been completely faithful.
This didn't quite answer how Ben could have fathered a blue-eyed, blonde baby.
Further Investigation
Both parents didn't know of any white ancestry history – besides Ben's mother being lighter in complexion – to explain a possibility of a recessive gene. Since Angela had already confirmed the paternity of the child.
All doctors could do was to test for other possible explanations to support Angela's theory. But still, everyone was stumped.
Ancestry
Both Angela and Ben had long Nigerian bloodlines from their ancestors. Every generation that had come before them had reflected their heritage - dark skin, dark hair, and dark eyes.
Angela and Ben looked just like everyone else of Nigerian descent. So why, then, did their daughter look so different? Doctors everywhere were baffled.
Possibilities
Naturally, the couple’s thoughts flew to a mixup in the nursery. Could the doctors have given them another baby?
Although this would be the perfect explanation, they both knew it just wasn’t possible.The doctors couldn’t possibly have made a mistake in the seconds between the baby’s birth and her parents seeing her for the first time. It made no sense.
Confusion
The doctors couldn’t have given them the wrong baby. And why would they have? This baby was definitely Angela’s. However, the couple just couldn’t see how they could have produced a fair-skinned child.
To make matters worse, the doctors were puzzled too and nobody could give them an answer. Fortunately, more answers seemed to be on the horizon.
The Question On Everyone’s Minds
The doctors were grasping for an explanation - and it was the same one that weighed so heavily on Ben’s mind. Of course, they demanded to know if Ben was really the father.
Angela was outraged at the accusations, but nobody would believe her. With infidelity seemingly off the table, the only thing the doctors could do was explore other possibilities.
Another Possibility
Aside from infidelity on Angela’s part, the other most likely answer was that the baby had albinism.
Because albinos are born with a lack of melanin, their eyes, skin, and hair have no pigment. Albinism can cause white skin, hair, and eyes regardless of genes. It certainly seemed like the final answer.
Albinism?
Albinism is actually quite common in Africa - particularly in Nigeria. Aside from infidelity, this was looking like the most likely answer for their baby’s appearance.
Doctors explained the mutation to Ben and Angela, saying that around 1 in 70 people from all over the world are born with some albino traits - even if they are not completely albino. But they had to run tests to be sure.
Tests
Although Ben and Angela never considered the possibility of having an albino baby, they enthusiastically agreed to let the doctors run tests to confirm if their little girl was an albino.
Angela was still adamant that the father was Ben, so this seemed like a definitive answer. But, when the tests came back, the results shocked everyone even more.
The Results
When the tests came back, they shattered the couple’s hopes. Although Angela insisted that the father was Ben and there must be a medical reason for her appearance, their baby did not exhibit albinism. Their only possible answer had been dashed.
There was only one avenue for the doctors to explore now. Would they finally get an answer?
Last Option
The doctors decided that there was only one remote possibility left. It lay in Ben and Angela’s dormant genes.
Because recessive genes can skip multiple generations before making an appearance or lie dormant forever, this seemed like the only solution. Since the baby wasn’t an albino, surely this was the answer?
Dormant Genes
Genes are like volcanoes: they can lie dormant for hundreds of years before making an appearance.
Genes are passed down from parent to parent, but this doesn’t mean they will definitely appear further down the bloodline. The doctors told Ben and Angela that this could be the only viable answer left. So, did one or both of them carry a dormant caucasian gene?
Generations Ago
The doctors explained that perhaps a dormant gene had only been expressed in the couple’s third child. They asked them about their ancestors and explained that there could be a dormant white gene somewhere in their bloodline.
The doctors also explained that this situation had happened before, and it would happen again.
History Repeating
The doctors knew of a few cases where black couples had given birth to white children who did not have albinism.
These couples spent many hours consulting with doctors, combing through their ancestry, worrying about the implications, and trying to find a logical answer - just like Ben and Angela were doing now.
Possible Comfort?
Another black couple, Francis and Arlette, gave birth to a white baby boy. And in their case albinism was ruled out. The nurses assumed infidelity too. They wracked their brains, looking into their family history for answers - which they found.
It turned out that Arlette’s great-great-great-grandmother was white, so she must have passed her genes down to their baby boy.
His Nose
Although they couldn’t be 100% sure that this had happened without a DNA test, Francis claimed that he just knew the baby was his when he noticed that the baby had his nose. And Francis and Arlette weren’t the only ones who had produced a baby whose skin looked nothing like theirs.
Could this help Ben sleep at night?
Black Woman, Two White Babies
To stir things up for Ben, a story came out of a black woman who had two white children. In this particular case, the children’s father was her white husband.
Could it be that both Angela and Arlette weren't telling the complete story?
Beauty of God
How the case of Ben and Angela came to be is a mystery in itself. As a result, the child was named Nmachi, which means, beauty of God. Even though it's suspected that this might be a hand of God, for the scientific community, there’s one question that hasn’t quite been answered with DNA test results.
Would Angela's word be enough for Ben?
A Media Sensation
Given Nmachi’s appearance compared to her parents, it’s no wonder she became a media sensation overnight. It wasn’t long before her picture was in all the papers.
Everyone who read the story tried to come up with their own theories of how she had been born white. But what do Angela and Ben think?
Daughter Comes Home
Ben, the girl's father, is highly convinced that Nmachi is his daughter even though there is no medical explanation to explain how this might have happened.
This may after all be a miracle story. And despite the difference in skin color, Ben is a very happy dad.