Former “Real Housewives of Orange County” star Meghan King Edmonds opened up in a recent blog post that Hart, one of her twin sons, has “irreversible brain damage,” something she has suspected since he was born.
In the blog post, titled “My Hart,” the reality TV star wrote on July 4: “From the minute he was born I knew something was different with Hart. 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…Well, I knew. I always knew. I just knew…”
The 34-year-old revealed that Hart has “minor Periventricular Leukomalacia on both sides of his brain.” Hart is 13 months old.
“Hart has irreversible brain damage, it’s called PVL,” she said, adding that he is “at risk for being diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.”
Periventricular Leukomalacia, or PVL, “is a type of brain damage that involves the periventricular white matter of the brain,” according to CerebralPalsy.org. “Damage to the white matter results in the death and decay of injured cells, leaving empty areas in the brain—called lateral ventricles, which fill with fluid (a condition called leukomalacia),” according to the site.
The majority of infants with PVL, 60-100 percent, are diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, according to the site.
“I always knew. I just knew.” https://t.co/vG4nk55OQc
— Us Weekly (@usweekly) July 5, 2019
Edmonds added in her blob that while she took her son to several doctors, they all claimed 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,” Edmonds wrote. “Eight days after the bottom fell out of my life I put my son through an elective MRI with anesthesia.”
Three days after the MRI, Edmonds’ fears were confirmed, her son did indeed have PVL.
Following the diagnosis, she immediately enrolled her son into therapy. She also alerted the rest of the family to the news.
The former reality star shared the heartbreaking news in an emotional blog post.https://t.co/Pbpm1gJ46R
— OK! Magazine USA (@OKMagazine) July 5, 2019
She went on to write that while she understood the diagnosis comes with its challenges, she is opting to stay positive.
She said she explained to her husband, former Major League Baseball center fielder Jim Edmonds, “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. 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.”
She concluded her blog with: “I pray for a miracle and I grapple with how to navigate his life…God, you’re talking to me. I hear you. Let’s do this. All of it.”
She also recently shared a photo of her husband holding Hart on Instagram, and captioned the picture “Daddy’s Hart.”
The couple also share a daughter, Aspen, who is 2 years old.
Birthdays are hard. My little girl with a big personality is 2! See more bloopers on my blog and read the special tribute I wrote to my very own Miss Princess Pineapple Pumpkin ???? pic.twitter.com/PD76vcGqcR
— Meghan King Edmonds (@MeghanKEdmonds) November 24, 2018
