A mother-of-four has hit out at vile trolls who have been mocking her young children who all suffer from a rare genetic deformity.
Bobbie-Jo Theriault said she was left ‘disgusted’ after seeing the ‘cruel and hurtful’ meme which featured an image of her family with the caption: ‘When you don’t learn from your mistakes.’
The 43-year-old was born with Crouzon Syndrome, which causes the head to become misshapen.
Genetic: The triplets, their older brother Jayden and parents Bobbie-Jo and Jason. Bobbie-Jo and her children suffer from Crouzon Syndrome, which causes the plates of a baby’s skull to lock in position too early, distorting the shape of their head
Her four children – oldest son Jayden, 14, and eight-year-old triplets Kaydence, Taylor, and Kaylin – inherited the condition and have endured a lifetime of surgeries.
The vicious meme had circulated on Facebook pages by groups and likely seen by many users by the time Bobbie-Jo contacted Facebook to report the content.
Vile meme: Trolls have targeted the family on Facebook
Bobbie-Jo, who lives with her children and husband Fredrick, 47, in Florida, said: ‘My friend contacted me to say they had seen the post.
‘When I saw it I was so disgusted. They are just kids. I don’t know how people can do that kind of thing. I just find it so hurtful.
‘These people are just so disgusting. Who knows who else they are offending.
‘Nobody knows my story or my family’s story and yet they think it is okay to post this kind of thing. They know nothing about my kids.’
Condemning trolls who ‘hide behind their keyboards’, she also worried that her kids were almost old enough to use social media.
She fears they will be contacted by heartless trolls on social media.
‘There are so many cruel people out there. Especially on the internet. They hide behind their keyboards. They would never say it to your face.’
‘I do worry as my kids get older and they start using social media more. I would ask these people what is wrong with them. Seriously. These are just children they are mocking.’
The family has been subject to abuse online. Pictured left to right: Jayden, Mum, Bobbie-Jo, Husband Frederick and triplets Taylor, Kaydence and Kaylin
Kaydence (pictured in 2013) had the most severely misshapen head doctors had ever seen
As a child, Bobbie-Jo admits she was teased by schoolmates because of her mildly protruding eyes but never expected her children to be the subject of online abuse
‘What gives them the right to go out and do hurtful things like this? I don’t know what’s happened to the page or the meme. A lot of my friends reported it too.’
Bobbie-Jo was overjoyed when she discovered she was expecting triplets and said she had ‘no idea’ her babies would be in danger of having a life-threatening form of Crouzon.
As a child, Bobbie-Jo admits she was teased by schoolmates because of her mildly protruding eyes, but she believes it made her a stronger person and better able to help her own children.
She added: ‘Children are going to be children. Bullying is everywhere no matter who are. All three of the triplets will probably come across somebody who is going to bother them. But if they do get called names they will have me to help them.’
Facebook has been contacted for comment.
Bobbie-Jo worries her children will become vulnerable to all sorts of abuse when they begin using social media
Crouzon affects 1.6 people in every 100,000 and is caused by a genetic mutation
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