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Oklahoma boy bullied for his looks, adopts cat with shared differences

They both have two different eye colors
Posted at 1:22 PM, Apr 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-04 14:22:16-04

Madden Humphreys had a difficult year when classmates were bullying him for how he looked.

The 7-year-old was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate -- and also heterochromia iridium -- which means his eyes are two different colors. 

His mom, Christina Humphreys, told The TODAY Show she wanted to do something about her son's sadness. 

"He wasn’t (insecure) until other kids started pointing it out to him and then saying not nice things to him,” said Humphreys, adding that she wasn’t sure how to help her son.

On Facebook one day, Humphreys stumbled upon a photo of something amazing: It was a rescue cat named Moon, who had two different colored eyes and a cleft lip.

“The eyes alone would have been a big deal. When I saw the cleft, we had a conversation about … how it was amazing they were both born completely unique,” Humphreys said. 

With funding help from family and friends, the Humphreys family made the 22-hour trip from Oklahoma to the Minnesota shelter where Moon was being held. Moon sauntered right up to Madden when he arrived and has been helping him deal with bullying so far. 

“Madden has been beaming,” she said. “I tell Madden all the time he is magical, and I think Moon helps him realize how special he is.”