This little girl was diagnosed with blindness as a baby but she’s left doctors speechless after a full recovery.
She regained her sight and healed herself of a condition of the brain that is considered life-long. Her mom took her to the Bristol Children’s Hospital for the first time in 2014 after a bad cold left the girl with very red eyes.
She showed no visual response so they diagnosed her with blindness. The continuous swelling afterward resulted in repeated visits to the doctors due to worries about hydrocephalus.
Today, the 7-year-old Evie-Mae Geurts lives in Bristol with her 28-year-old mother Amy. At the age of only 8 months, she was diagnosed with hydrocephalus.
Unfortunately, the girl had pressure in the head that was 32 times higher than the normal level. The doctors warned the mom that they may be able to alleviate the pain and pressure; however, they said that the damage to her brain was irreversible.
Doctors Claimed that Evie-Mae Will Never Regain Her Eyesight
The doctors informed Amy that the ongoing pressure resulted in Evie-Mae losing her sight for good. And, they also informed the family that the girl won’t be able to learn to walk and talk.
But, this sweet girl defied all odds and prognosis. Her sight didn’t just get back while she was a toddler, but she also learned to walk and talk. The hydrocephalus disappeared last year and the doctors couldn’t explain it.
Her mom says that she’s a phenomenal girl and that everyone is so proud of her. The doctors said that due to a delay in the diagnosis, they couldn’t know for sure what would happen.
Today, she’s living a free life, talking, walking, and actually being ahead of her grade in learning.
The experts were confused because she was delayed and now, suddenly, she’s forward. Her mom says Evie-Mae is a brave, wonderful girl.
Her Mother Fought for Evie to Get the Right Diagnosis & Treatment
Evie-Mae’s uncle has hydrocephalus and Amy thought of this when the doctors told her that her daughter had no vision.
But, she was first told that she was wrong because she was a smiley baby. The girl was also pulling her hair out, but the doctors told her mom that if it was hydrocephalus that she would be worse.
Desperate to find out what was happening to her daughter, Amy contacted her brother’s neurosurgeon. She came back to the Bristol Children’s Hospital in April 2015 with a diagnosis and told the doctors that she won’t leave until they see her daughter.
According to Amy, she had to wait for ten hours before her daughter was checked out. They were informed that the soft spot of the girl had fluid.
They scheduled her for surgery the next day. When the girl came out of the surgery, the doctors said she was lucky because she was brought in when she was as the pressure in the brain was high.
The brain pressure needs to be zero and when we have a bad migraine, it’s around five. For comparison, Evie’s was 32 and even higher. This meant that she could’ve died.
The doctors placed a shunt inside Evie’s brain to drain out the fluid through the bladder.
Evie’s Road to Recovery & a Normal Life
In the year after the surgery, Evie started getting back her vision slowly as a result of the shunts draining the fluid causing the pressure. But, according to her mom, this was unusual for a kid who wasn’t treated for that long.
Evie learned to walk at two years old and she even started speaking after learning Makaton. She also regained her vision and first signed and then began speaking.
Unfortunately, in 2019, April, Evie had headaches so the doctors had to drill the skull to place a specialized needle. Her pressure in the brain was 40 times higher than the amount it should be.
This happened because the shunt got blocked. The doctors placed a new one.
In 2021, the headaches came back and the family feared the worst. Bizarrely, the doctors found that this happened because the shunt wasn’t necessary anymore and it was splitting the ventricles which weren’t pressured anymore.
The doctors were shocked-it turned out that Evie had somehow cured herself. This was never seen before, according to the doctors, and certainly, they didn’t expect to see it in Evie’s case.
The shunts were removed, although it’s not a common procedure because of the risk of the shunt leading to brain bleeding or stroke. The surgery went well; however, Evie had to spend a few extra days in the hospital because she contracted viral meningitis.
Today, the 7-year-old girl is a perfectly happy girl with an ideal vision. She does eye tests every six months and doctors are amazed by her progress.
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