MANVEL, Texas – A Manvel family is trying to raise awareness for congenital glaucoma after their baby, who was born with it, needed several surgeries to save his eyesight.
Their first indication something was wrong was his eye color.
“Others started complimenting his eyes saying they were beautiful eyes, they were bluish grey,” explained Jermaine Hill.
“It was also a cloudy look in his eyes,” said Jasmyne Hill.”
They were right to take their concerns to a specialist because their baby, Jaxon, actually had congenital glaucoma. This means he was born with it and without treatment, he could’ve gone blind. He needed surgery urgently.
The Hills said it was traumatizing when the first operation didn’t work and he needed two more. Then, he required eye drops, ointments and eye shields. Trying to make a baby tolerate that daily is a difficult task even though the Hills believed it could save their son’s vision.
Luckily, it worked.
The pressure level in Jaxon’s eyes is normal now and there are signs of progress.
The Hills said Jaxon can track toys and lights with his eyes (a huge relief after he missed that milestone in infancy).
However, the biggest dream come true for Jaxon’s parents is that he smiles now when they walk into a room.
“I kept praying that ‘I want my child to recognize my face.’ When we first started this journey, he was not able to recognize faces, wasn’t very able to track his toys,” Jasmyne said. “When I saw progress and I come home from work and he sees me and he smiles, that makes me feel good.”
“He’s too young to tell us exactly what he can see and how far, but so far he’s doing great tracking objects and recognizing our faces,” Jermaine said.
There is no cure for glaucoma so Jaxon will need to continue seeing specialists probably throughout his life.
The good news is, it seems for now he’ll be able to participate in normal activities in childhood and beyond.