'Duck Dynasty' Stars Share Their Daughter's Medical Struggles
In a heartfelt and hopeful interview, "Duck Dynasty" couple Jase and Missy Robertson shared how they are coping with their daughter Mia's medical battles and how their daughter has become their strength, despite her condition.
According to The Christian Broadcasting Network, Mia was born with a severe case of bilateral cleft lip and palate and Jase said he remembers the wrenching pain in his heart when he saw his daughter first take a deep struggle-filled breath. The doctors also discovered that there was fluid in her lungs, but since she had been born into a family of fighters, she left the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) in just a week.
As she was growing, Mia always choked when she ate and went through numerous surgeries to fix the deformities on her face. Jase and Missy told The Doctors that Mia has gone through eight separate surgeries and she is required to undergo some more as she grows older. She is now 12 years old, and despite the struggles of having a face that didn't seem normal to the world, she is "confident and self-assured."
Missy said the entire clan, including brave Mia, are hoping that her story of faith in God and belief that there is always something better at the end of the tunnel can become a source of strength for other people and children in the same boat that she is in.
Jase and Missy didn't get a lot of good advice while they were looking for ways to ease their daughter's pains as she was growing and they were always confused. Their battles led them to create the Mia Moo Fund, a charitable organization that aims to advocate awareness and raise funds for the treatment of other people with cleft lips and palates who need financial assistance.
Missy has detailed the 12 years of struggle and hope that the family went through in her new book entitled "Blessed, Blessed...Blessed."