Rosamere Fernanda de Andrade, 31, from Recife gave birth to a white baby. When she held her newborn baby daughter, she assumed there had been a terrible mistake as while she was black, her child had white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes.
Ms de Andrade and her then husband Joao, are both African Brazilian, but their first daughter suffered from the rare genetic condition, albinism.
Ruth, who is now 14, was born without any skin pigment and looked considerably different to her parents.
Since having her first child, Ms de Andrade, 31, has given birth to two other albino children as well as three who are black.
Ms de Andrade said the difference between her family is so vast that she is often mistaken for the albino children's nanny.
Ms de Andrade, who is also mother to Joao, 13, Rebeca, five and Maria, two, who are black, said: 'Having children with this condition poses so many difficulties.
'I'm terrified they will develop skin cancer because they have no natural protection from the sun.
'I need to monitor them constantly to make sure they aren't burning and worry about what damage has already been done.'
Ms de Andrade was shocked when she gave birth to first child, Ruth, at age 18, with ex-husband, Alexandrino Barbosa de Sobral, 63.
She said: 'I thought someone was playing a trick on me and had switched my baby with a white family's.'
And after returning to their village in a poor part of Recife, Brazil, Ms de Andrade struggled with the way friends and neighbors reacted to her baby.
Ms de Andrade, who lives with partner Robenilson, 37, who is father to Maria, knows there's a chance any of her children could have albino babies of their own.
But with the help of doctors she now knows how to manage the condition and will be able to educate her own children in how to care for theirs.
She said: 'I would feel like a normal grandmother and accept my grandchildren as I accepted my children.
'The doctor explained everything to me.
'I will constantly apply sunscreen on their skin and I'll also try to let them play mainly in the night.'
Photo: Laurentiu Garofeanu/Barcroft USA
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