Little Primrose was an infant when she was abandoned in an orphanage in China. This is not uncommon for girl children in the country where the expectation falls on having a son. The child had the most hauntingly silver eyes, which told a story of pain and a degrading life.
A couple in Braselton, Georgia, spotted the little girl on Facebook, where an image was imprinted on the mother’s mind. She could not shake the sadness she felt that day. So the parents of two children set out on a journey to save a little girl’s life.
At the time, the little infant couldn’t take a bottle by herself or even hold her own head up. She was frail and in constant pain. When the Austins met her for the first time, they fell in love and welcomed Primrose with her striking silver eyes into their home. Chris and Eryn Austin knew that day that there was no way that Primrose would know another day of loneliness.
The mystery of the silver eyes explained
Eryn said Primrose woke up in ‘crisis’ eight months ago and 11 specialists were baffled at what was causing her misery. Eryn added: “It was an excruciating experience for us all. She was drenched in sweat, her body was dealing with such intense pain and her nervous system was going nuts. She was hurting herself by not eating or drinking, I had to force liquids into her mouth with a syringe to keep her hydrated.”
With further investigation into Primrose’s medical condition, they discovered that she was suffering from congenital glaucoma. There was a constant pressure behind her eyes, retinal detachment in one and shrinking in the other. The poor child was in such ongoing pain that there were times she even struggled to eat or drink. Eryn Austin described ‘living in a constant nightmare’ as the toddler spent 16 hours each day crying in pain.
The disease is classified as “6p25 deletion syndrome” and it not only caused eye issues, but skeletal abnormalities, muscle degradation and hearing loss. The pain and fear the poor infant must have suffered through could only be labeled inexplainable torture and something had to be done.
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Surgery for the girl with the silver eyes
The couple had to make one of the hardest decisions of their lives that day. Primrose’s eyes had to be removed to relieve her pain. They knew this was best for her and called it. Just weeks after undergoing surgery to treat her silver eyes, Primrose improved tremendously.
“It was a heart-breaking decision to have her eyes removed, but it was 100% the right thing to do,” said Eryn. “We never imagined two weeks later how much she would have progressed. It was a miracle, two days after she was standing up for the first time in months, was smiling and had made progress in other areas.” She added: ‘Kids call her a “monster” and run away screaming and crying. But she is beautiful even with her eyes looking different.”
So much so that she wins everyone over who gets to meet her with the most contagious smile. She’s also learning to walk again, and one would never believe what the brave little girl has gone through to get to where she is today. She is a happy, healthy child with a bright future and the most loving family supporting her every step of the way.
Communication is key
It has also been discovered that she has managed to miraculously retain some of her hearing, relying only on small tubes inserted into her ears. She has also learnt a touch-based form of communication and manages just fine. “Now she is starting to communicate in a new and different way. She will always have to approach life differently, but we have now removed the source of her pain. If she never really talks or speaks, we will find other ways to communicate with her, we will teach her sign language or figure something else out.” Added Eryn.
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