Brandee Artale was breastfeeding her newborn daughter late last year when, she said, she noticed something different in her daughter’s eyes.
“I was really looking at her … and I was like, something looks weird in her eyes,” Artale, of Bellevue, Nebraska, told “Good Morning America.” “It looked kind of cloudy, in a way.”
Artale and her husband, Andrew, took their daughter Madison to their pediatrician, who referred them to Dr. Paul Rychwalski, a pediatric ophthalmologist and chief of ophthalmology at Children’s Nebraska.
After a nearly nine-month journey that included three surgeries, Rychwalski credits the Artales’ quick action after noticing something was wrong in Madison’s eyes for helping to save their vision. girl.
“It was really crucial that parents were curious when Brandee saw something that didn’t seem quite right,” Rychwalski told “GMA.” “It was very important.”
Last October, Rychwalski diagnosed Madison with congenital cataracts, a condition present at birth and so rare that it only occurs in about three out of 10,000 births, according to Rychwalski.
In congenital cataracts, the lens of the eye is cloudy instead of clear.
In addition to the cloudiness of the eyes noticed by Madison’s parents, other symptoms of congenital cataract include rapid and unusual eye movements, lack of a red pupil reflex in photos, and the infant’s lack of awareness. of the world around it, according to the National Library of Medicine.
In Madison’s case, she was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes, a diagnosis Brandee Artale said she and her husband weren’t prepared for with their first child.
While cases of congenital cataracts are often detected during the eye exam that takes place immediately after birth, the Artales said they had no signs of anything abnormal with Madison’s vision. Although some congenital cataracts are due to other genetic or medical problems, the cause of Madison’s condition is unknown, which occurs in about a third of cases, according to Rychwalski.
“We weren’t prepared at all,” Brandee Artale said of her daughter’s diagnosis. “We thought she was a happy, healthy baby.”
In order to save her vision, Madison underwent two eye surgeries shortly after her diagnosis.
Rychwalski said the urgency of the surgeries was because they had to be done before she was just 6 weeks old.
“We want to eliminate this clouding of the lens as quickly as possible, hopefully within the first six weeks of life,” he said. “The brain isn’t fully activated in those first six weeks, so we have some flexibility, but after that the clock starts ticking.”
After the surgeries, the Artales said they used a dry-erase board to keep up with Madison’s intense schedule of drops and eye patches.
In February, Madison underwent a third surgery on her left eye due to pressure buildup, a common complication after cataract surgery, according to Rychwalski.
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With her surgeries behind her, Madison was able to get her first pair of custom glasses at 4 months old, an experience the Artales and Rychwalski said they saw Madison transform.
“At first she was fighting, but then she was finally able to see things. She looked at me and said, ‘Mom, I see you,’ and I was bawling,” Brandee Artale said. “You can absolutely see her understanding everything.”
Andrew Artale added: “When I look at her and see her eyes, especially when she’s happy, you see the happiness in her eyes so much better.”
Rychwalski said he notices the change in Madison’s mood now when he has to take off his glasses in his office for exams.
“Madison gets very cranky when we take her glasses off to check eye pressure, for example, and she wakes up (at home) looking for her glasses,” he said. “A lot of parents tell me at first, ‘My child won’t wear glasses,’ and my response is, ‘Well, wait and see.’ When the child discovers what real, focused vision looks like, he will quickly adopt it.”
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Because Madison’s cataracts were detected so early, Rychwalski said the baby, now 8 months old, has a “very good prognosis.”
“There’s a very good chance that if we can monitor her carefully, she could have better than 20/40 vision in each eye,” he said. “But there are many obstacles that can arise, so this family will be a very close member of our family at Children’s Nebraska for many years, just making sure that they don’t have any complications down the road.”
The Artales said they will be forever grateful for the quick action that saved Madison’s vision, calling Rychwalski a “miracle worker.”
As they learn more about their daughter’s diagnosis, the couple said they are sharing their story in hopes of helping other families.
“We want to make other families aware that cataracts can happen and if you see something, speak up,” Brandee Artale said.
Rychwalski echoed his advice to parents and guardians, saying, “The most important thing is to know your child and never be afraid to talk to your doctor if something doesn’t seem right, and to be vigilant about this. »
He added that when it comes to warning signs regarding children’s vision, parents can pay attention to how their children’s eyes look in photos.
“It’s normal (in photos) to have this red reflex, or ‘red eye,’ and if we have a red side and a white side, that could signal that something is blocking the light in the eye,” he said. he declared. “If you ever see an abnormal red reflex or white pupil, this is something you would want to talk to your pediatrician or ophthalmologist about immediately.”