The story of Nadia

When Nadia was 4 months old I noticed her left eye started to look cloudy but no one noticed what I was noticing.At 5 months old it started to look worse & I realized I wasn’t being a paranoid mom & something wasn’t right.I immediately took her to urgent care & that’s when they sent us to our local children’s hospital.There I was told Nadia was born with a birth defect called Congenital Glaucoma & the next day my precious little girl had to have her first surgery.It absolutely broke my heart.Congenital Glaucoma is a rare disease that affects 1 in 10,000 children.Basically Nadia’s drainage system in her eyes didn’t fully form at birth & this causes the pressure in her & other children’s eye/eyes to build up & hurts the optical nerve.Two thirds of children have this condition in both eyes & Nadia is one of those children unfortunately.A couple months after her first surgery she was put under anesthesia to get measurements & see how her left eye was doing & how her right eye looks.She ended up needing surgery in each of her eyes that day which was super defeating & absolutely heartbreaking once again.I was told Nadia would more than likely end up with some vision loss & would be near sighted & might need glasses but Nadia luckily has defeated the odds & actually has perfect vision & doesn’t need glasses.Surgeries unfortunately though aren’t always affective & there is no cure.Nadia could eventually und up blind like lots of children with her condition have but we’re super hopefully that she’ll be okay & stay on the track she has been.Now every few months she goes under anesthesia to get measurements & everything has been great & no new surgeries have been needed at this time.I’m sharing Nadia’s story because I want exposure on her condition to get more research done.The eye medications that children like her need to keep the eye pressure under control are only covered once a month by insurances & they’re super expensive out of pocket & no family should have to go through financial struggles over this.My big girl is almost 3 now & I’m so proud of how far she’s came & how strong she’s been.Sending so much love to any other families who have a child dealing with Congenital Glaucoma.💖