Zoe Anne Bryant
Zoe Anne Bryant was born January 23rd, 2013 to her mother Charlotte Bryant and father Raymond Bryant. Zoe was born with a rare eye condition called “Congenital Aniridia” (in layman terms it means she was born with no iris in her eyes). To learn more about Aniridia please Click Here. Zoe was born by emergency C-Section in Boston on her 37th week and 0 days of gestation. Zoe’s mother had sever Preeclampsia and started getting very sick very quickly. Zoe may be the youngest in her family, but size wise she was the largest baby her mother had. Zoe was born 10 lbs. 2 oz. and 21 and a half inches long. A few hours after her birth Zoe was experiencing O2 sat issues. She was dropping under 85%, because of this they placed Zoe in a NICU (neo intensive Care Unit). Zoe was there for 11 days. When Zoe finally did come home her family was so elated to have the youngest part of the family home. Zoe started showing signs of complications with her eye condition very soon after her birth. Zoe had her first eye surgery at the age of 2 months, because her eye pressures were in the upper 30’s. Doctors were concerned about her getting permanent eye sight lose. Zoe had to wear eye patches for two weeks on both eyes and her parents worried that this would cause Zoe to be upset not to see, but thankfully she was calm through the entire time. Zoe struggled with being mobile, when she was a baby. Zoe sat, crawled and walked late, but when she did she made it known she was proud of her accomplishment.
On June 21st, 2013 Zoe and her brother and sister were taken from her parents by the Department of Children and Family service, because they thought someone had hurt her sister Mildred. Zoe was placed in a separate foster home than her brother and sister and saw them twice for an hour each for the month they were gone. Thankfully Zoe was a very small baby and does not remember much of what happened, but she does have anxiety when she does not know where people from her family are.
In March of 2015 Zoe and her family moved to Orlando, Florida. While there she enjoyed meeting cousins she had barely known. Playing with them and learning to be an independent visually impaired child. During her time in Florida her parents took Zoe to see a doctor who told her parents that Zoe had significant eye sight lose in her left eye. In addition, the doctor told Zoe parents that her lens in that eye was dislocated or under developed enough that it would keep shifting causing her to have double vision of extremely blurred vision. This did not stop Zoe to navigate her surroundings. If she could not see it clearly, she would get down on her hands and knees and feel around to figure out the obstacles in her way.
In February of 2016 Zoe and her family moved back to Massachusetts and Zoe had a big reality check when she stepped off the plane and saw snow. Her parents believe she did not remember snow, because when they moved she was so small. None the less Zoe feared the snow and did not want to walk on it or even touch it. Eventually Zoe overcame her fear of the snow and could enjoy the joys of playing in snow. Zoe started preschool in May of 2016. Zoe was beyond excited to ride a school bus for the first time. Zoe attended the CHIPS school in Chelmsford for a few weeks and sadly had to change schools in the beginning of June of 2016. Zoe then started attending the McAuliffe Elementary School in Lowell Massachusetts. Zoe really enjoys going to school and playing with her friends. In spring of 2017 Zoe started using a visually impaired cane. Zoe was so proud to be like her mother and father. Zoe makes sure everyone knows she is a big girl and knows how to use it. Then in September 2017 got her first pair of glasses. Zoe was excited at first about them, but at times get annoyed about them because they don’t always fit right on her face. Zoe is a strong willed little girl who will go far in life with all the inner strength that lives in side her. To learn more about Zoe and Zoe’s family Click Here.
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