MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- A mid-state woman and her three-year-old son will appear in an upcoming episode of the nationally syndicated medical program “The Doctors.”
Woodbury residents Lacey Buchanan and son, Christian, who has multiple birth defects, recently traveled to Los Angeles to tape a segment for the daily show.
Christian Buchanan was born with a Tessier cleft lip and palette. There are only about 50 similar cases in the world. Christian is also blind and uses a feeding tube, but is otherwise healthy.
Soon after her son’s birth, Lacey Buchanan posted a video to Youtube explaining Christian’s condition. She did so in response to questions and sometimes hurtful comments she heard when out with him in public.
“Standing in line in the grocery store and having two minutes to tell them wasn’t doing it. It just wasn’t getting my story across to people. So I wanted to create this story online so people could view it. So that’s just what I did. I told our story in a way that I thought would be compelling and boy was it. Within a few months it had 11 million views.”
Lacy and Christian Buchanan’s story has received worldwide attention as a result. Christian now has 175,000 friends on Facebook.
Lacey Buchanan agreed to appear with her son on “The Doctors” after producers agreed to include the more positive aspects of her family’s story. She was interviewed by Vanderbilt trained physician and show host Dr. Travis Stork.
“Christian was on the stage being his two-year-old little self, and the audience was laughing at him. Dr. Stork was chasing after him around the stage because he was just going everywhere and exploring like he always does. We really got across who Christian is and what we wanted to convey to people.”
The interest in Christian has provided the Buchanan’s with an opportunity to advocate for individuals with special needs. They routinely field requests to attend events and tell his story.
“We’re so thrilled just to be able to do these things, that any opportunity that we do get to go somewhere and share those things -- you know, like going out to Los Angeles this week -- we try to do if at all possible because Christian changes people’s lives.”
This past year Lacey Buchanan and husband Chris were blessed with a second son, Chandler. Lacey is studying to be an attorney and hopes to practice disability law.
The episode of “The Doctors” the Buchanans appear in should air in the next few weeks. In Middle Tennessee “The Doctors” airs Monday through Friday at 2 p.m. on WKRN, Channel 2.
Here is a version of the video featuring Lacey and Christian Buchanan.