“Walk by faith, not by sight”: NC baby born without eyes

REIDSVILLE, NC (WGHP) — Tate Walker didn’t come into the world easily.

On December 5, 2021, parents Jahavier and Ryan Walker knew it was time to go to the hospital for the birth of their first child, but Tate didn’t appear until after he had been in the birth canal for about 30 hours.

After Tate was born via C-section, he was rushed out of the room due to fluid in his lungs. After a few hours, his parents were able to see him.

They soon learn that Tate will never see them again.

“They said it would be swollen for a day or two,” Ryan recalls.

Around 9:00 p.m. the next night, the parents say a doctor came into the room and gave them news they never expected.

Tate still hadn’t opened his eyes, which was initially attributed to his swelling. However, the doctor discovered that Tate was born with anophthalmia, meaning he had no eyes.

“He will be blind for the rest of his life. That’s it,” Ryan said of their initial conversation with the doctor. “Of course we were in such shock, we couldn’t ask questions, what it was, what it meant.”

Ryan and Jajavier said they spent the night crying, trying to make sense of what they had just heard while doing enough research to prepare questions for the doctor the next day. After getting some answers about how to care for Tate and why his development would be different from that of other children, Tate and his parents underwent genetic testing.

“The gene that develops your eyes, whatever the long numbers and letters are. The letter C was removed,” Jahavier explained of the Tate results.

The family relies heavily on support systems as Tate’s sleep schedule is erratic and the parents continue to work. They also found groups dedicated to families going through the same thing.

“They tell us it’s very rare, but there’s a bunch of people in this Facebook group,” Jahavier said.

Tate’s parents say that when his eye sockets are big enough, he will be able to have prosthetic eyes. At the same time, he will have vision and physical therapy, noting that there will be an extended learning curve for him learning to crawl and walk.

Parents say that Tate has some nerves that would be related to his eyes. With advances in science and technology, they hope that one day he will be able to implant eyes.

“People everywhere are rooting for Tate,” Ryan said.

Shortly after Tate’s birth, his parents claim they were told his condition was currently incurable, that he was eligible for Medicaid and Social Security benefits.

However, they say they were turned down because “they earn too much”. They now say they pay about $1,200 a month for his health insurance on top of other health-related expenses.