Missouri parents are speaking out months after their daughter was born without eyes. According to Fox 35 Orlando, the infant’s name is Wrenley Ice, and she was born in November 2023.
According to the outlet, Robert and Taylor Ice opened up about their daughter’s condition in an exclusive interview. Taylor, the infant’s mother, noticed that her daughter’s “eyes were shut” after her delivery.
“I noticed that her eyes were shut, and she wasn’t trying to open them or anything,” she explained to Fox 35 Orlando.
The hospital staff reportedly told the mother that it was normal for infants not to open their eyes immediately after birth.
However, after days went by, Taylor and Robert received a diagnosis from their daughter’s pediatrician, per the New York Post.
“He just like stops with his examination and looks up at us and says, ‘Your daughter doesn’t have any eyes,'” Taylor recalled to the outlet.
Additionally, the parents learned that Wrenley was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder. The disorder is known as haploinsufficiency of PRR12. Furthermore, Fox 35 Orlando reports that the diagnosis means Wrenley was born “without eyeballs or optic nerves.”
“I was just devastated at the thought of her being blind, and not only blind, but just not having any eyes or optic nerves at all,” Taylor explained, per Fox 35 Orlando. “So if there ever was any technology or anything, it probably wouldn’t help her.”
Robert, Wrenley’s father, also shared his reaction to his daughter’s diagnosis.
“When you first find out your child was born and doesn’t have any eyes, it’s very heart-wrenching,” he explained.
According to Fox 35 Orlando, there are only 24 known cases of haploinsufficiency of PRR12 in the country. Additionally, the condition can reportedly range in how individuals are affected.
“In PRR-12 disorder there’s a spectrum of how patients are affected by it,” Geneticist Doctor Nate Jensen told KFVS12. “Some patients with the same gene change have one eye affected, and it might be totally absent like in Wrenley’s. It might just be smaller, and in this case, both of the eyes are affected, and both are completely absent.”
Despite the shocking diagnosis, Robert and Taylor have explained that raising Wrenley has been a “normal” experience.
“As I was taking care of her, I was like, ‘This is like taking care of a normal baby,'” Taylor told Fox 35 Orlando. “She eats like a normal baby. She sleeps like a normal baby. She interacts like a normal baby.”
Furthermore, the parents have set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Wrenley’s medical expenses.
“Wrenley is otherwise happy and healthy, but she is at increased risk of developmental disabilities and delays due to her condition. We are hopeful that with resources, aides, support, and love that she will thrive and have a long and happy life,” the family’s campaign page reads.
