'Real Housewives' Star's 13-Month-Old Son Has 'Irreversible' Brain Damage
There are some traits we share with most other humans, regardless of history, background or socioeconomic status. Most of us want the same things in life: to be understood and loved.
Likewise, parents often have similar hopes and dreams for their little ones. They want their children to be healthy, happy and whole — and many of them have that wish fulfilled.
But when a child is born with what some might consider a “setback,” parents are left to deal with the situation as best they can, and not even the rich and famous are exempt.
Meghan King Edmonds, known for her time on “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” has three children. She welcomed twin boys along with her husband Jim Edmonds in June 2018, but from the beginning, she sensed something wasn’t quite right.
The two boys, Hayes and Hart, were born at 37 weeks weighing 6 pounds 15 ounces and 6 pounds even. But the differences between the two started immediately.
“From the minute he was born I knew something was different with Hart,” King Edmonds wrote on her blog.
“The nurses struggled to straighten his legs to measure his length. He suckled hard, shallow, and often until I bled and he spit up black.”
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The worried mom tried many different things, including a chiropractor, an ophthalmologist and cranial sacral therapy, but nothing seemed to help.
“I told our pediatrician — she said he was fine,” she wrote. “I begged for a neurologist referral and when I got it — he said he was fine.
“I then begged for a neurologist who specializes in Cerebral Palsy (I jumped through hoops to get this appointment, so many hoops) and she said he might be fine. I then begged for an MRI.”
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By this point, many probably thought King Edmonds was an overly worried mom who was stressing out over nothing — but the MRI and doctors finally revealed what she had suspected about her boy all along.
“Hart has minor Periventricular Leukomalacia on both sides of his brain (namely the white matter), but more so on his right. She said that this explains all of my concerns: the rigidity in his muscles, the (somewhat) delayed physical milestones, the lack of fluidity with arm and leg movements, the stiffness in joints, the weakness in his lower back, the somewhat favored use of his right side,” King Edmonds wrote.
“She told me this mainly occurs in premies and since he was not a premie (he was born at 37 weeks gestation) she believes this damage somehow occurred ‘a couple months before he was born.’ She explained that he is at risk for being diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and will be monitored.”
But the bottom line was something like what she feared: “Hart has irreversible brain damage, it’s called PVL.”
Sometimes, receiving a diagnosis is as comforting as it is distressing because it gives people a name for their condition and helps them fight against it instead of just the great unknown. King Edmonds seemed undaunted by the news — sad, but ready to give her son his best foot forward in life.
“I explained to Jimmy how we are not somehow compromised or punished for having a child with special needs (whatever that may or may not mean!), we are BLESSED,” she wrote. “I will go on about this another time but just know that I do not see his diagnosis as anything but a gift: we were chosen to take on this special person. I truly feel as if we’ve doubled down and won the underdog hand. Truly.”
To make matters more difficult, her relationship with her husband has been strained after he admitted to having “inappropriate conversation” with another woman, bringing their lives under public scrutiny, according to US Weekly.
“Clearly, I made a very poor decision to expose myself and my family to this type of person,” Jim Edmonds said.
“For this, I am truly sorry and sought forgiveness from my wife. I’m outraged over the intent to ruin my family and intend to take legal action. We were never having any problems in our marriage. My attorney is in possession of documents wherein this person has admitted fabricating large portions of her ‘story.’”
Hopefully Jim Edmonds has changed his ways and Hart will bring them closer than ever as they fight by his side.
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