When the parents of a baby girl noticed that their daughter had lots of birthmarks on her back, they didn’t realize what was in store for their family. Initially, nurses told the couple that the marks on their baby’s back just looked like birthmarks, the mom explained during an interview with Newsweek. But shortly after that, their newborn daughter received a surprising diagnosis.
The mom posted a simple video to document the unexpected experience.
The baby’s mom, Mackenzie Dodd, shared a simple clip that perfectly illustrated just how jarring the discovery was for her family. At the beginning of the short clip, she included footage of her newborn and captioned it with, “I wonder why she has so many birthmarks on her back.” Then, the clip quickly cut to another scene. It was captioned with: “Spinal cord injury.”
“Little did we know,” Mackenzie wrote on TikTok.
@kenseacarolin Little did we know – #medicalmom #diagnosis #spinalcordinjury #disability #smallcreator #trend #trending #fyp #foryou ♬ Runaway – Album Version (Edited) – Kanye West
She explained what happened in more detail during an interview.
When speaking to Newsweek, Mackenzie said that even though nurses assured her that the marks on her baby’s back were probably just birthmarks, she “felt a pit in my stomach.” Then, when they were preparing to leave the hospital after their daughter’s birth, a doctor “decided she needed an ultrasound,” which seemed to confirm the mom’s fears.
After that, Mackenzie’s daughter was transported to a larger hospital for an emergency MRI. Their baby girl was diagnosed with tethered cord syndrome and caudal regression syndrome. Per Stanford Medicine, tethered cord syndrome is “a rare neurological condition in which the spinal cord is attached (tethered) to the surrounding tissues of the spine.” Caudal regression syndrome is a rare congenital disorder that impacts the development of the lower half of the body.
Mackenzie has documented her experience as a ‘medical mom’ on TikTok.
@kenseacarolin No i literally still cry but what other choice do us medical moms have? #trending #momlife #fyp #motherhood #postpartum #medicalmom #disability #momsoftiktok ♬ original sound – Up All Night Podcast
While the diagnoses were not the news the parents were expecting or hoping for, Mackenzie now uses social media to raise awareness and connect with other “medical moms.” Now, her baby is 3 years old. Although “her future is still fuzzy,” she is “still a 3-year-old learning about the world” and “thriving,” Mackenzie told Newsweek.
On July 2, Mackenzie reflected on their journey in a TikTok post. “So proud of the growth and strength our girl has,” she wrote. “Spinal cord surgery, medically induced comas, high fevers, longer stays. I’ll never forget the debilitating feeling of not being able to help her.”
In other posts, she’s opened up about how she navigates being a “medical mom.” In one of them, she admitted that she is “still trying to figure it out.”
“No, I literally still cry but what other choice do us medical moms have?” she wrote.
