Maddie Brown Brush of Sister Wives says that she blames herself for her newborn baby’s physical condition. The 23-year-old mother and her husband, Caleb Brush, recently revealed that their baby daughter, Evangalynn Kodi, was born with a rare disorder that causes unfortunate malformations in the arms and legs.
The condition is known as fibular aplasia, tibial campomelia, and oligosyndactyly (FATCO) syndrome, and it causes infants to be born with bone formation issues while in utero. The cause of this disease is completely unknown, but Maddie feels as though her habits may have induced this condition, citing her soda drinking as a possible cause. There is no known medical correlation between these two things.
Before baby Evie was born on August 20, doctors had their suspicions about the unborn baby. According to People, it appeared on the ultrasound that Evie was missing a couple of fingers, a much more common condition called oligodactyly, which literally means there are fewer than five fingers on a single hand. But when the baby was born, it was revealed that she was missing a thumb, a toe, and a fibula (calf bone), not to mention she also had two fingers fused together and one bowed tibia.
Evie was diagnosed about 24 hours after she was born and, while her condition isn’t serious beyond some physical limitations, it is possible to treat these disabilities. Doctors suggested surgery and possibly amputation. In order for them to perform these surgeries, they have to wait for her to turn 1. Her body is still delicate and forming. These limitations won’t be major, yet Maddie hesitated to tell everyone about her daughter’s condition. At the end of the day, she decided that it’s better for and her daughter that everyone knows about what’s going on with her. Why she hesitated is due entirely to internet trolls and their tendency to make cruel jokes. She also hopes to raise awareness for this condition so people who are suffering from the same condition or parents going through the same thing will have some words to look at for support.
Despite this genetic condition being completely random, Maddie does worry that something she did may have caused this. She said she felt a lot of emotions and one of those being guilt. "I'm like, 'Oh, what did I do? Did I drink too much soda pop?'" She was, however, very relieved in the end. It could have been so much worse, and her baby is actually very healthy. Unfortunately, Sister Wives isn’t returning for a new season anytime soon, so fans won’t be able to see baby Evie’s journey.
Source: People