A UK woman who says she was abandoned at birth due to a rare genetic condition has devoted her life to caring for her son, Elijah, who has the same affliction.
“My philosophy in life is you can either allow devastating situations to bury or you can get the help you need to process — heal — recover, which then enables us to move forward without taking what’s happened to us into our future,” Kaddy Thomas told The Post in a new interview.
She was born in 1968 with Apert syndrome, which causes the fusion of bones in the feet, hands and skull. At just days old, doctors said she wouldn’t live a normal life.
Thomas, whose disorder affects one of every 65,000 to 88,000 newborns, bounced between UK foster homes.
“I think as a 22-year-old from Gambia, it was too much for her to handle, so she abandoned me,” Thomas said about her mother Tuesday on ITV’s “This Morning,” per the Daily Mail.
“When you are brought up in residential care, despite having clothes on your back, food in your belly and a roof over your head, you don’t get that love and security that you would ordinarily get if you were brought up in a family unit,” she added.
Many years later, in her late 30s, Thomas became pregnant and gave birth to Elijah in 2006. He was born with Apert syndrome, just like her.
Thomas told The Post that her son required an operation to enhance his quality of life and correct skeletal deformities that arose from the condition.
She said Elijah sustained an infection from the surgery and developed a severe brain injury at just 18 months old. Now, he needs round-the-clock care.
“He went from a young boy who was crawling, eating and going to nursery, dance to music to a child who then became motionless, I didn’t recognize him,” she said, admitting her “life was turned upside down.”
Every day is a new adventure, she continued — she could be plotting a trip to the zoo or the park, but an epileptic seizure “completely changes” the plan.
Sometimes, he takes several trips to the hospital in a single day.
“He is in Bristol Children’s Hospital as we speak today and Sunday night, and today he had various seizures that required emergency medication,” she said of Elijah, who is 17.
“But you know he is strong, determined and resilient, a bit like me actually.”
Thomas has started a nonprofit organization in Elijah’s name to raise awareness for their rare condition and provide support to families and caretakers.
“I was left completely burnt out, overwhelmed and unable to advocate for Elijah in the way that he needed me to,” she said in a statement to The Post. “I sought out coaching to teach me mindfulness, relaxation and to empower me to be able to manage a complex team of carers — and in doing so I realized that all
carers needed access to this.”
She founded Carers Collective, which provides coaching to caretakers to help them juggle stress, burnout and the challenges that come with the job.
“Like any mother, I am keen to do everything within my power to enable my child to have the best life; to make it of a good quality, and to give him great teenage years,” she said in a statement. “For those of us who care for a loved one, it is vital that we are well and of sound mind.”