Mother Forced To Bathe 1-Yr-Old in Bleach To Treat Rare Skin Disorder
Suffering is an inevitable part of life. We all know that, and we all understand that part of our personal growth consists in learning how to graciously live with (as Hamlet put it) “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”
Still, some cases trouble you more than others, and the trials experienced by little Jamison Stam and his family are downright harrowing. See, Jamison’s mother, Alicia Barber, never expected to be able to have a baby.
In 2013, physicians told her she had endometriosis and couldn’t conceive. However, after a successful 2016 surgery, she received the happy news that she was expecting twins.
That was when her troubles truly began. One of the twins reabsorbed into her womb, she faced numerous health issues and a surgery, and a doctor said that her baby would be stillborn.
That didn’t happen. Little Jamison entered the world in May 2017, but no one expected him to live for long for one simple reason: Physicians learned he had harlequin ichthyosis.
An ultra-rare genetic condition, harlequin ichthyosis causes abnormally hard skin growth and the formation of almost plate-like structures that fissure around joints. That breaking can lead to an increased risk of infection and dehydration, as well as breathing difficulties.
“I was severely depressed,” Barber told USA Today. “I didn’t go to see him.”
The Washington state resident also had to attend counseling to convince the state that she could be a fit mother. In December 2017, she became Jamison’s full-time caretaker.
Part of the little boy’s treatment regime includes bathing him in bleach twice a week. That might sound beyond horrific, but it helps ward off infection, which could kill him.
Some of the images in the following video may be hard to see. Viewer discretion advised.
Still, it isn’t easy. The baths pain Jamison so much that Barber has to administer morphine first, and that worries her since it slows his breathing even more.
“Some days I wake up and I think, ‘How am I going to get through another day?’” she admitted. “That small voice says, ‘Alicia, we are going to do this.’ … God is carrying me the most.”
There’s some good news amongst all the heartache, though. Barber started a GoFundMe campaign so she could attend a harlequin ichthyosis conference in Tennessee.
Her initial goal was $6,000. But as of Friday morning, she had raised a whopping $41,994.
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