Meghan King Edmonds is opening up about her 13-month-old son Hart’s health journey, weeks after revealing that he was diagnosed with “irreversible brain damage.”
In an interview with Page Six published on Tuesday, the former Real Housewives of Orange County star, 34, said that she felt “relief” after learning the diagnosis.
“I was in my car leaving my new house that we’re building, and [the doctor] started telling me, ‘He has damage to some white matter in his brain,’ ” she said. “It was a relief. It was vindication in a weird, twisted way. Vindication I didn’t want, but I knew that I would get.”
Edmonds added, “I really wanted nothing more than to just be a crazy hypochondriac mother, but I knew I wasn’t. Because of that diagnosis, I got him into all these therapies.”
Earlier this month, the mom of three — who also shares Hart’s twin brother Hayes, 13 months, and daughter, Aspen, 2, with husband Jim Edmonds — revealed that Hart has “minor Periventricular Leukomalacia on both sides of his brain” and is “at risk for being diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy.”
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In an interview with DailyMail.com published on Monday, Edmonds said that Hart’s brain damage “is not progressive” and shared her hopes for his recovery.
“We don’t yet know how it will affect the rest of his life, like speaking in sentences or his physical abilities,” she explained to the outlet. “I’m just hoping that all the early intervention stuff we’re doing now is going to help him and by kindergarten, he won’t be doing any more therapy at all.”
“He will essentially have grown out of his diagnoses,” Edmonds added.
One week after revealing Hart’s diagnosis, Edmonds documented her son’s time at a physical therapy appointment on her Instagram Stories. In the clips, Hart sat on a swing and was recorded being gently swung by the physical therapist.
“Hart loves this swing at PT! It helps him build his abs and stabilize his core to ultimately give him better balance and strength,” she explained.
Edmonds first shared the news of the diagnosis in a blog post titled “My Hart,” writing, “From the minute he was born I knew something was different with Hart,” also adding, “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.”
Throughout the distressing journey to find Hart’s diagnosis, Edmonds said she communicated with her husband, whom she confirmed she was still married to on Monday despite his recent admission that he “engaged in an inappropriate conversation” with another woman (but denied having a physical relationship).
“That night Jimmy and I went out to dinner for the first time in weeks,” she wrote of the day she told her husband about Hart’s diagnosis. “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.”
“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,” said Edmonds, who shared snaps from her son’s MRI appointment in late June.
“This doesn’t mean his diagnosis isn’t a challenge… or a little bit sad, or that I don’t feel a little bit guilty. Because yes — just yes — to all of those things. I pray for a miracle and I grapple with how to navigate his life,” the mother of three added.
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