My baby was born with the most beautiful eyes… but then we received a terrifying one-in-a-million diagnosis

After years of trying for a baby, Madison and Steven Mitchell were ecstatic to welcome their baby girl into the world.

‘She’s our triple rainbow baby,’ Madison told the Daily Mail of daughter Violet. ‘So we lost three babies before her and never really got an explanation for why, so she’s truly a miracle.’ 

‘We were offered this genetic testing at 10 weeks, and everything came back perfect. It said we were having a completely healthy girl,’ the Iowa-based mom-of-one said. 

‘From that point, we thought, this is real because she is our magic little rainbow, and we finally could breathe. 

‘Fast forward to the day she was born, which is when we saw her eyes for the first time,’ she continued. ‘We quickly learned that there is way more to genetics than we ever could have imagined.’

Immediately after Violet, now eight months, was born, her parents noticed her beautiful, big eyes – but had a feeling that something wasn’t quite right. 

‘Her corneas, specifically, were completely clouded,’ Madison recalled. ‘They were this really beautiful, blue color but we could not see into them.’

Further testing into little Violet’s eyes eventually led to a one-in-a-million combination diagnosis: aniridia and congenital glaucoma caused by a gene mutation called FOXC1.

Aniridia is a condition that causes babies to be born without irises, the colored part of the eye.

Most people with aniridia develop glaucoma, usually when they are 10 to 20 years old, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

When Violet was born, her eye pressure was in the high 30s, whereas a normal person’s is around 10 to 22 mmHg.

‘Babies’ eyes develop really early during gestation, so she had been living with these high pressures for quite some time, and that led to her eyes being really cloudy,’ the mom explained.

Violet’s condition is so rare that no one in their small Midwest town had ever seen it before, so no one could tell them what was wrong. 

‘We had no answers,’ Madison recalled. ‘It was probably the most scary thing we’ve ever been through.’

When Violet was a week old, they took her to a doctor who was unable to ascertain what was wrong because he couldn’t see into her eyes properly, so he referred her to doctors at the University of Iowa. 

There, she met with two eye specialists and underwent emergency surgery called trabeculectomy at only two weeks old to fix the pressure in her eyes.

Thankfully, the surgery has so far been a success and her eyes have remained stable, with the grateful parents thankful for the doctors who helped their daughter.

The pair won’t know Violet’s full vision extent until she can communicate, but are thrilled with her progress so far. 

‘I just can’t even put it into words how amazing it has been to watch her develop her vision,’ Mitchell tearfully gushed.

‘She’s been doing really great so far, like she definitely has vision,’ Steven agreed. ‘I would say it’s decent.’

Madison has begun sharing Violet’s story on TikTok, where she has discovered other people suffering from the rare condition.

‘It’s been really touching, because not only have I been able to connect with them [but] I can’t even tell you how many comments I’ve got or messages I’ve got from people telling me that they’ve never seen or met anyone like them,’ she said.

‘I just can’t imagine Violet not knowing someone like her, not having access to that,’ she continued. 

‘I know someday that there will be questions that I can’t answer, but to have access to people who can is just priceless.’