Courtney Blackmore has spent the past 27 years of her life learning to dismiss comments aimed at bringing her down.

The woman was born with cystic hygroma, which according to John Hopkins Medicine is  “a birth defect that appears as a sac-like structure with a thin wall that most commonly occurs in the head and neck area of an infant.”

Because of the sac’s position on her face, Blackmore shared that she’s spent a lifetime trying to ignore the “ignorant comments” because “it’s not worth my time.”

But sometimes, it’s impossible to ignore.

“But there are moments where I will respond to people and talk to them and be like, ‘Hey, this is not how it goes, and making ignorant or ablest comments is not going to fly with me,’” she said in a November 2023 interview.

The new family

Blackmore said she’s always dreamed of settling down with a partner and having a family.

In 2021, she started playing the video game Call of Duty, a co-op game that brings strangers together as teammates.

That’s when she met Rayden.

The two – who according to Blackmore’s Instagram are recently separated – announced in March 2023 that they were expecting a healthy baby girl.

Blackmore, who goes by the online handle “horror queen,” shared her pregnancy journal on her social media, inviting fans on her journey.

On one post, where she shares her baby’s ultrasound, one fan writes, “So happy for you! Very blessed. It’s always a relief when you know your baby is doing great and measuring right. She’ll be here before you know it!” A second shares, “[she] is gonna look as beautiful as her MaMa”

While many of the comments were positive and supportive, some hate still slipped through.

“I have gotten a lot of hate about me being pregnant and that I don’t deserve to be a mum,” she said. “People saying my daughter doesn’t deserve to have her life.”

On 30 September, the couple welcomed their healthy baby girl, Seraphina Rose Blackmore, into the world.

Blackmore explains that because she is not a carrier of the birth defect, there was no concern her condition would be passed onto her child.

“Medically, I had already been tested genetically – we knew that I wasn’t a carrier of my own birth defect, so I was not worried,” she said.

Blackmore adds, “Even if my child was disabled, I would love my child no matter what.” She further warns people to “not always jump to conclusions.”

“Don’t always think that everything is genetic or that people who are disabled can’t take care of their children.”