Mother says doctors couldn’t decide whether ‘Pretti Don’ was boy or girl
LAVERN BUCKLEY was merely a teenager when she gave birth to her first child. Three weeks after her birth, the young mother realised her daughter was developing different from other children. She had two sex organs.
This was something unheard of in her rural Portland community, so this new finding was kept as a deep family secret.
At age five, Buckley’s daughter remained unregistered as doctors were still uncertain of her gender.
“I was just 17 at the time and I was very surprised when I saw that she had a vagina and something else. I began taking her to Bustamante Hospital for Children, where she did numerous surgeries. They did a lot of test and research and at age five she was just ‘Baby Buckley’, because they were undecided what gender she would be,” she said.
The mother said that she was later told the her child was indeed a female and would developed breasts and have her period. She named her Vanice Samantha Parkes.
Parkes, 27, is known by her 10,000-plus social media fans as Pretti Don. She recently shared her family secret with her viewers, revealing that she was born with two different sex organs.
EXTREMELY PROUD
Reflecting on the Facebook Live video, Buckley said she is extremely proud of her daughter’s strength.
“I wasn’t at home when she did the video, but I wanted to be there because there are still a lot of stuff that I did not share with her. She made the video because she didn’t want the ex-girlfriend to expose her,” she said.
Buckley said she did everything in her power to ensure that her daughter lived a normal life, but things were not always what they seem. According to Buckley, her daughter, who has a bubbly personality, sometimes uses humour to mask her pain.
“I never understand how she does it. Sometimes the girl would just beat her up and she would go online and give jokes and make people laugh while she is hurting. I really don’t know how she does it ... and its killing me,” the mother said, in between tears.
According to Buckley, Pretti Don has had some great days, but there are others when she is filled with conflicting emotions.
“She goes through a lot of stuff emotionally. I tried my best to have everything corrected so she wouldn’t grow up and feel a way about herself. Right now, she is at peace with herself and that is the most important thing. We will continue to have each other,” the mother said.